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Marketing communication has the function of conveying information, persuading and reminding potential consumers of products and services for making purchasing decisions. The type of product, the target market for prospective consumers, the strength of the network owned and the company's ability in terms of promotion budget are aspects that need to be considered in determining the form and channel of marketing communication for a product. Persuasive communication plays an important role for the company's success in influencing prospective customers to respond and act according to what is expected in relation to product marketing. Word of mouth about the experiences of customers who have enjoyed the company's products and services forms word of mouth which is an effective communication medium in influencing the decision making of other prospective customers. This study uses a qualitative approach and is descriptive in nature, aims to describe and analyze the application of persuasive communication elements and word of mouth elements as a form and channel of marketing communication for Hajj Savings at Panin Dubai Syariah Bank. The data used in this study are primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained from direct observation and interviews, while secondary data was obtained from the results of research that had been carried out by previous researchers and scientific reports contained in articles or journals regarding persuasive communication and word of mouth. The results of the study show that the elements of persuasive communication (claims, warrants and data) are implemented in verbal communication by the opinion leaders and non-verbally in the choice of media sentences to promote PDSB Hajj Savings products. Word of mouth elements (WoM Units, Participants, Venues, Actions and Outcomes) occur and are implemented in the interaction process both by opinion leaders to the community and Hajj Savings customers who have experienced PDSB Hajj Savings services to the surrounding community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study empirically analyzed activism participants’ roles drawn from the lens of social media affordance and identified the activism opinion leaders based on the framework of network connectivity, message diffusion, and semantic relevancy through the case of the #Marchforourlives Twitter network, which has been rebranded as X. The study defines the #Marchforourlives Twitter network as a co-created activism network in collaboration with different degrees of contributors, such as the core advocates, the advocates, the supporters, and the amplifiers. The results showed that a very small number of tweets created by the core advocates played significant roles due to their extensive adoption by other participants, while many other original tweets were never mentioned or retweeted in the network. This study disclosed the extensive proportion of amplifiers as 95.13% among the examined participants. The study findings suggest that creating core agenda tweets with high amplifiability might be critical for successful hashtag activism to attract like-minded masses as networked protesters.

Opinion leaders play a significant role in promoting innovation and technology adoption through effective information dissemination to potential adopters. However, personal traits that define effective opinion leaders, as identified in existing literature, may not fully align with followers' desired attributes of an opinion leader. Additionally, little is known about how varying degrees of influence may impact the spread of knowledge. To bridge the gap, first, we conducted focus group discussions in 10 villages within the banana farming community in Rwanda to assess the critical attributes that farmers seek in opinion leaders. Results indicate that honesty, commitment, social, knowledge, and leading by example are the top five attributes that farmers value the most from an opinion leader for the control of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt – a major banana disease. Second, we collected data from 100 nominated opinion leaders, including 10 farmer promoters, using a structured questionnaire to determine how they transmit knowledge about disease management to farmers. The opinion leaders were categorised into low, medium, and high levels of influence based on pairwise comparison. We found that honesty, leading by example, and justice are significant attributes that distinguish opinion leaders with a higher level of influence and who are more effective in transmitting knowledge. Farmer promoters are not distinct from other opinion leaders in terms of access to farmers but are more active in knowledge transmission than any other opinion leader. Our results suggest that having access to farmers does not indicate influence. Therefore, we recommend engaging those farmer promoters and opinion leaders with a higher level of influence to disseminate information to farmers at the village level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research, using the cultural-identity-protective cognition theory and focusing on China as a case study, aims to identify influencers, track information dissemination processes, and recognize the patterns of information and emotional flows within Twitter conversations related to the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic. 5.3 million Twitter posts were collected related to the coronavirus using keyword searches such as #Wuhan and #Chinesevirus. Out of these, 17,964 tweets were selected as a sample from the most commented tweets by top users. A qualitative textual analysis revealed that Twitter users' attitudes toward the coronavirus disease and governments' policies were highly politicized and polarized. Both influencers and general users had the capacity to steer Twitter conversations into the political realm, thus contributing to the politicization and polarization of discussions during the information flow. Notably, opinion leaders, especially among influencers, could politicize and polarize a conversation by initially indicating their political standing in the tweet. In general, Twitter users had the ability to make neutral and objective news information go viral if a large number of Twitter users continue the politicization and polarization processes. Group membership—specifically, political standing—and cultural identities played significant roles in perpetuating a vicious cycle of anger. This cycle amplified identity threats for Twitter users and prompted more prejudicial and polarized comments, especially when China, Chinese people, and the Chinese government were the subjects of blame in the Twitter community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study empirically analyzed activism participants' roles drawn from the lens of social media affordance and identified the activism opinion leaders based on the framework of network connectivity, message diffusion, and semantic relevancy through the case of the #Marchforourlives Twitter network, which has been rebranded as X. The study defines the #Marchforourlives Twitter network as a co-created activism network in collaboration with different degrees of contributors, such as the core advocates, the advocates, the supporters, and the amplifiers. The results showed that a very small number of tweets created by the core advocates played significant roles due to their extensive adoption by other participants, while many other original tweets were never mentioned or retweeted in the network. This study disclosed the extensive proportion of amplifiers as 95.13% among the examined participants. The study findings suggest that creating core agenda tweets with high amplifiability might be critical for successful hashtag activism to attract like-minded masses as networked protesters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of online e-commerce platforms has changed consumers' habits and brought many advances. This change in shopping type became an opportunity for consumers to change their shopping methods from offline to online. Live commerce is a combination of live streaming and e-commerce. It is developing rapidly in many countries around the world. Due to the influence of COVID-19, the consumption propensity has also changed to non-face-to-face consumption. Due to these changes in consumption patterns, various companies have started live commerce using online e-commerce platforms. Live commerce provides real-time video and chat functions using influencer. In addition, two-way communication between sellers and consumers and product information sharing are possible. On Live Commerce, consumers can purchase products right away while watching the broadcast. The purpose of this study is to empirically verify how live commerce characteristics and influencer characteristics affect hedonic and practical values. To verify the positive impact on consumers' purchase intentions, analysis and modeling were performed using SPSS 26.0 and Smart PLS 4.0. The results of the study are as follows. First, the relationship between the characteristics of live commerce and the hedonic value and practical value. Information has no effect on hedonic value and utilitarian value, and economy has no effect on hedonic value, while all others have meaningful effects. Second, the relationship between influencer's characteristics and the hedonic value and practical value. The survey shows that professionalism has no effect on pleasure value, and all others have a significant effect. Third, the effect relationship between hedonic value and utilitarian value and purchase has a significant effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to explore whether Twitter, as a passive sensor, could have foreseen the collapse of the Unified Stablecoin (USTC). In May 2022, in just a few days, the cryptocurrency went to near-zero valuation. Analyzing 244,312 tweets from 89,449 distinct accounts between April and June 2022, this study delved into the correlation between personal sentiments in tweets and the USTC market value, revealing a moderate correlation with polarity. While sentiment analysis has often been used to predict market prices, the results suggest the challenge of foreseeing sudden catastrophic events like the USTC collapse solely through sentiment analysis. The analysis uncovered unexpected global interest and noted positive sentiments during the collapse. Additionally, it identified events such as the launch of the new Terra blockchain (referred to as "Terra 2.0") that triggered positive surges. Leveraging machine learning clustering techniques, this study also identified distinct user behaviors, providing valuable insights into influential figures in the cryptocurrency space. This comprehensive analysis marks an initial step toward understanding sudden and catastrophic phenomena in the cryptocurrency market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to decipher the modus operandi of Shanghai’s image portrayal to the audience through social media platforms, particularly Twitter. Leveraging the potency of big data analysis, the study scrutinizes the applicability of the two-step flow communication model in the communication of Shanghai’s image. The findings highlight the cardinal role of opinion leaders in the image communication process, overshadowing the impact of mass media. The age-old phenomenon of two-step flow, wherein information trickles down from mass media to opinion leaders, appears to be fading away. Although mass media’s tweets can potentially reach a broad audience, they do not necessarily captivate the attention of opinion leaders. Thus, the study underscores the importance of both mass media and opinion leaders in shaping Shanghai’s image.

This study seeks to decipher the modus operandi of Shanghai's image portrayal to the audience through social media platforms, particularly Twitter. Leveraging the potency of big data analysis, the study scrutinizes the applicability of the two-step flow communication model in the communication of Shanghai's image. The findings highlight the cardinal role of opinion leaders in the image communication process, overshadowing the impact of mass media. The age-old phenomenon of two-step flow, wherein information trickles down from mass media to opinion leaders, appears to be fading away. Although mass media's tweets can potentially reach a broad audience, they do not necessarily captivate the attention of opinion leaders. Thus, the study underscores the importance of both mass media and opinion leaders in shaping Shanghai's image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the ever-increasing size and complexity of social networks, developing methods to extract meaningful knowledge and information from users' vast amounts of data is crucial. Identifying influencers on social networks is one of the essential investigations on these networks and has many applications in marketing, advertising, sociology, behavior analysis, and security issues. In recent years, many studies have been conducted on analyzing and identifying influencers on social networks. Therefore, in this article, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) has been performed on previous studies about the methods of identifying influencers. To this end, we review the definitions of influencers, the datasets used for evaluation purposes, the methods of identifying influencers, and the evaluation techniques. Furthermore, the quality assessment of the recently published papers also has been performed in different aspects to find whether research about identifying influencers has progressed. Finally, trends and opportunities for future studies about influencers' identification are presented. The result of this SLR shows that the quantity and quality of articles in the field of identifying influencers in social networks are growing and progressive, which shows this field is a dynamic and active area of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts to find central "influencers," "opinion leaders," "hubs," "optimal seeds," or other important people who can hasten or slow diffusion or social contagion has long been a major research question in network science. We demonstrate that opinion leadership occurs only under conventional but implausible scope conditions. We demonstrate that a highly central node is a more effective seed for diffusion than a random node if nodes can only learn via the network. However, actors are also subject to external influences such as mass media and advertising. We find that diffusion is noticeably faster when it begins with a high centrality node, but that this advantage only occurs in the region of parameter space where external influence is constrained to zero and collapses catastrophically even at minimal levels of external influence. Importantly, nearly all prior agent-based research on choosing a seed or seeds implicitly occurs in the network influence only region of parameter space. We demonstrate this effect using preferential attachment, small world, and several empirical networks. These networks vary in how large the baseline opinion leadership effect is, but in all of them it collapses with the introduction of external influence. This implies that, in marketing and public health, advertising broadly may be underrated as a strategy for promoting network-based diffusion.

Marketers commonly seed information about products and brands through individuals believed to be influential on social media, which often involves enlisting micro influencers, users who have accumulated thousands as opposed to millions of followers (i.e., other users who have subscribed to see that individual's posts). Given an abundance of micro influencers to choose from, cues that help distinguish more versus less effective influencers on social media are of increasing interest to marketers. The authors identify one such cue: the number of users the prospective influencer is following. Using a combination of real-world data analysis and controlled lab experiments, they show that following fewer others, conditional on having a substantial number of followers, has a positive effect on a social media user's perceived influence. Further, the authors find greater perceived influence impacts engagement with the content shared in terms of other users exhibiting more favorable attitudes toward it (i.e., likes) and a greater propensity to spread it (i.e., retweets). They identify a theoretically important mechanism underlying the effect: following fewer others conveys greater autonomy, a signal of influence in the eyes of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mevzu is the property of Ali Sever and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Effective scale-up of multisectoral strategies aimed to prevent and treat childhood obesity has been a challenge in Brazil, the largest country in Latin America. Implementation Science methods, such as Net-Map, can identify key actors and opinion leaders (OLs) to advance the implementation and promote sustainability. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze power relations between key actors and OLs who influence the scale-up of Brazilian strategies for childhood obesity at the federal and state/municipal (local) levels. Methods: A mixed method study, applying the Net-Map method, collected data through virtual workshops with federal and local level stakeholders. The Net-Map included key actors mapping, power mapping, and identification of OLs. Four domains of power were analyzed: command, funding, technical assistance, and dissemination. Network cohesion and centrality measures were calculated. A qualitative analysis was conducted to qualify power relations according to * gears for a successful scale-up (i.e., coordination, goals, and monitoring; advocacy; political will; legislation and policy; funding and resources; training; program delivery; communication; and research and technical cooperation). Results: A total of 121 federal key actors and 63 local key actors were identified across networks, of which 62 and 28 were identified as OLs, respectively. Whereas the command domain of power had the highest number of key actors, the funding domain had the least. The health sector executive branch emerged as an OL across all domains of power. Conclusions: Barriers that threatened successful scale-up include the lack of coordination between domains of power, missing leadership within key actors, and lack of mechanisms to manage conflict of interest. Governance strategies to enhance multisectoral coordination and communication are needed to effectively scale-up and sustain childhood obesity strategies in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying opinion leaders in social networks, particularly in social media, is a crucial marketing strategy. These individuals have a considerable influence on the purchasing decisions of their communities. Companies can benefit from collaborating with relevant opinion leaders in their market as this can increase their visibility, establish their credibility, and gain consumer trust, leading to increased sales, improved brand perception, and an expanded market share. Additionally, by gaining a comprehensive understanding of opinion leaders, companies can better comprehend the trends and preferences of their target audience. This allows them to tailor their marketing and product strategies more effectively. Identifying suitable influencers to endorse their products or services is a significant challenge for companies. The identification of opinion leaders is complicated by their informal and unstructured nature, as well as the varying selection criteria depending on the marketing campaign’s goals. While numerous research studies have focused on detecting opinion leaders in social networks based on content, interactions, or a combination of both, few have explored sentiment analysis of post content, received interactions, and user comments in relation to published posts. The purpose of this paper is to present an hybrid approach to detect opinion leaders in Facebook. This approach involves analyzing the trajectory of post content by examining interactions on the post, as well as mining the text content of the post itself and analyzing the users’comments sentiments.

Feed certification is released by authorized third parties as external cues indicating that products have met standard quality. However, farmers do not always take certification as the main consideration in product selection because of insufficient knowledge or they are skeptical about certification. This research aims to analyze the effect of feed certification, company image, opinion leader, perceived product quality, customer trust, and satisfaction to layer farmers’ customer loyalty. Respondents were selected by using purposive sampling with the criteria that respondents were layer farmers with experience for at least 1 year and customers of concentrate or ready-made feed. Data were collected by using questionnaire and analyzed with the partial least square. Results show that feed certification influenced perceived product quality with β = 0.127 and p ≤ 0.1; then, company image and opinion leader influenced perceived product quality with, β = 0.690 and β = 0.157 at p ≤ 0.05. Perceived product quality affected customer trust (β = 0.699, p ≤ 0.01) and customer satisfaction (β = 0.689, p ≤ 0.05). Then, customer trust and customer satisfaction positively influenced customer loyalty with β = 0.507, and β = 0.414 at p ≤ 0.01. Research findings indicated that feed certification was considered by layer farmers in feed purchasing behavior. However, company image was played as the most important factor among opinion leader and feed certification. These results implied that besides maintaining company image and the role of opinion leaders, feed mills and authorized institutions still urge to promote the importance of certification as product quality indicator.

This article examines changes in the behavior of Ukrainian TV presenter Masha Efrosinina associated with the Russian-Ukrainian war. Before the full-scale war, Masha Efrosinina was known as a positive, optimistic, and kindhearted personality. She often spoke about happiness and well-being, engaged in charity, and supported women. During the war, Efrosinina’s behavior changed drastically. This influencer became more emotional, often expressing anger, aggression, and outrage. She did not shy away from expressing her position on the war and called on Russian citizens to take to the streets to protest putin’s anti-Ukrainian aggression. The authors of the article explain Efrosinina’s change in behavior as a result of the traumatic wartime events. The war caused her severe stress, which led to changes in her emotional and psychological state and behavior. In addition, the authors of the article argue that the war significantly strengthened Efrosinina’s leadership qualities. The TV presenter became a public activist and the initiator of many charitable projects. In this way, the article traces the impact of traumatic wartime events on the personality and public behavior of media personalities, creating new qualities and opportunities to influence public opinion.

Abstract Background Healthcare providers’ inclination to seek or lead other providers’ opinions on clinical topics may influence healthcare practices, particularly regarding their alignment across different providers in controversial domains. This study aimed to explore opinion-seeking behaviours of general practitioners and their impacts on clinical opinions in ambulatory cardiovascular care in Germany. Methods Between 2019 and 2021, we performed a written survey in two samples of general practitioners and one sample of self-employed cardiologists in three German states. The general practitioners were asked to identify a person they deemed influential on their views on cardiovascular conditions. Their self-perceived opinion leadership and opinion seeking behaviours were then measured, using a validated 12-item-questionnaire. General practitioners and cardiologists were requested to indicate their agreement with three potentially controversial aspects of cardiovascular ambulatory care. Potential impacts on the general practitioners’ views, including local cardiologists’ opinions, were examined using multi-level linear regression models. Results A total of 129 general practitioners and 113 cardiologists returned the questionnaire. 68.50% of general practitioners named an opinion leader, mainly cardiologists outside of their practice. General practitioners perceived themselves as opinion seeking and as opinion leading at the same time. Views on the presented controversial topics were mixed among both general practitioners and cardiologists. Self-reported opinion leadership behaviour of general practitioners was associated with their views on one of the three topics. No such associations were found for opinion seeking behaviours and the views of local cardiologists. Conclusion While most general practitioners named a cardiovascular opinion leader and saw themselves as opinion seeking regarding cardiovascular issues, they simultaneously perceived themselves as opinion leading, suggesting that opinion leadership and opinion seeking are not mutually exclusive concepts. The views of local cardiologists were not associated with the general practitioners’ view, suggesting that local medical specialists do not necessarily influence the surrounding opinion seekers’ views per se. Trial registration: We registered the study prospectively on 7 November 2019 at the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS, www.drks.de ) under ID no. DRKS00019219.

We find a lower bound for the k-subdomination number on the set of graphs with a given upper bound for vertex degrees. We study the cases where the proposed lower bound is sharp, construct the optimal graphs and indicate the corresponding k-subdominating functions. The results are interpreted in terms of social structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various opportunities are available to depict different domains due to the diverse nature of social networks and researchers’ insatiable. An opinion leader is a human entity or cluster of people who can redirect human assessment strategy by intellectual skills in a social network. A more comprehensive range of approaches is developed to detect opinion leaders based on network-specific and heuristic parameters. For many years, deep learning–based models have solved various real-world multifaceted, graph-based problems with high accuracy and efficiency. The Graph Neural Network (GNN) is a deep learning–based model that modernized neural networks’ efficiency by analyzing and extracting latent dependencies and confined embedding via messaging and neighborhood aggregation of data in the network. In this article, we have proposed an exclusive GNN for Opinion Leader Identification (GOLI) model utilizing the power of GNNs to categorize the opinion leaders and their impact on online social networks. In this model, we first measure the n-node neighbor’s reputation of the node based on materialized trust. Next, we perform centrality conciliation instead of the input data’s conventional node-embedding mechanism. We experiment with the proposed model on six different online social networks consisting of billions of users’ data to validate the model’s authenticity. Finally, after training, we found the top-N opinion leaders for each dataset and analyzed how the opinion leaders are influential in information diffusion. The training-testing accuracy and error rate are also measured and compared with the other state-of-art standard Social Network Analysis (SNA) measures. We determined that the GNN-based model produced high performance concerning accuracy and precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of "disintermediation" is one of the instruments used to interpret recent developments in politics and communication, especially in digital media. Our thesis is that the concept of "disintermediation" can be considered from two different perspectives. On the one hand, it can be interpreted in the strict historically established sense. On this basis it may be argued that the internet has contributed to "disintermediate" traditional intermediaries, surpassing in part the traditional intermediaries of the twentieth century (such as journalists). On the other, "disintermediation" can be seen in broader, etymological, absolute and non-relative terms. In this sense, the concept of "disintermediation" is no longer appropriate and consequently, based on experimental results and a theoretical analysis of small and large digital intermediaries, we shall propose the concept of "neointermediation." This article presents the characteristics of neointermediaries, which are concentrating more and more power and are of two sizes: small and large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influencers are omnipresent on social media platforms. They occupy important digital real estate across a range of topical domains including beauty, fashion, and gaming. While researchers have contributed important work on the respective role that authenticity plays for influencers' success and have described a burgeoning industry within the larger domain of social media entertainment, comparably little is known about what happens when influencers get involved in politics, when they harness their digital clout to promote political causes and social issues, and thereby become political influencers. This introduction to the special issue on political influencers provides a definition of what makes someone a political influencer. It theoretically locates political influencers within the larger field of media and communication scholarship, and delineates the term from other, related concepts such as that of opinion leader. Building on eight contributions focused across more than six countries and nine platforms, the article showcases important strands of current and future research. It provides the foundation for a more systemic understanding of political influencers on social media, situating them within a media ecology complicated by a diverse array of traditional and nontraditional actors, tactics, and dynamics. The article concludes with recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to explore whether Twitter, as a passive sensor, could have foreseen the collapse of the Unified Stablecoin (USTC). In May 2022, in just a few days, the cryptocurrency went to near-zero valuation. Analyzing 244,312 tweets from 89,449 distinct accounts between April and June 2022, this study delved into the correlation between personal sentiments in tweets and the USTC market value, revealing a moderate correlation with polarity. While sentiment analysis has often been used to predict market prices, the results suggest the challenge of foreseeing sudden catastrophic events like the USTC collapse solely through sentiment analysis. The analysis uncovered unexpected global interest and noted positive sentiments during the collapse. Additionally, it identified events such as the launch of the new Terra blockchain (referred to as “Terra 2.0”) that triggered positive surges. Leveraging machine learning clustering techniques, this study also identified distinct user behaviors, providing valuable insights into influential figures in the cryptocurrency space. This comprehensive analysis marks an initial step toward understanding sudden and catastrophic phenomena in the cryptocurrency market.

The wide use of social networks by the population has led to the emergence of influencers. Within the gastronomy sector there are two types of digital opinion leaders: foodies and those concerned with healthy food. To compare the communication that these two profiles types carry out on Instagram, a content analysis of 339 publications made by the most important gastronomic instagramers in Spain is performed. The results show that their communication strategies differ and that the followers of the healthy profiles are the most active and interactive ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Misinformation (i.e. information identified as false) spreads widely and quickly on social media – a space where crowds of ordinary citizens can become leading voices – during a crisis when information is in short supply. Using the theoretical lenses of socially curated flow and networked gatekeeping frameworks, we address the following three aims: First, we identify emergent opinion leaders in misinformation-related conversations on social media. Second, we explore distinct groups that contribute to online discourses about misinformation. Lastly, we investigate the actual dominance of misinformation within disparate groups in the early phases of mass shooting crises. Design/methodology/approach: This paper used network and cluster analyses of Twitter data that focused on the four most prevalent misinformation themes surrounding the El Paso mass shooting. Findings: A total of seven clusters of users emerged, which were classified into five categories: (1) boundary-spanning hubs, (2) broadly popular individuals, (3) reputation-building hubs, (4) locally popular individuals and (5) non-opinion leaders. Additionally, a content analysis of 128 tweets in six clusters, excluding the cluster of non-opinion leaders, further demonstrated that the opinion leaders heavily focused on reiterating and propagating misinformation (102 out of 128 tweets) and collectively made zero corrective tweets. Originality/value: These findings expand the intellectual understanding of how various types of opinion leaders can shape the flow of (mis)information in a crisis. Importantly, this study provides new insights into the role of trans-boundary opinion leaders in creating an echo chamber of misinformation by serving as bridges between otherwise fragmented discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brazilian Journal of Law & International Relations / Relações Internacionais no Mundo is the property of Relacoes Internacionais no Mundo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Little is known about networks for positive behaviour support (PBS) in disability services. This study explores a PBS network to identify influential persons in its promotion and communication. Quantitative sociometric methods were used to identify persons who occupy positions of either boundary spanning (those that link people and groups) and/or opinion leadership (those that are sought for advice). Nineteen persons were identified. Boundary spanners met all criteria for the position while opinion leaders did not. This is the first published study of a PBS network in disability services and provides insights into persons involved in its systemic promotion. Boundary spanners are effectively bridging the PBS network, yet persons seeking information about PBS are doing so from opinion leaders that do not display a requisite characteristic for this role. These results have implications for the wider utility of PBS within disability service systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Healthcare providers' inclination to seek or lead other providers' opinions on clinical topics may influence healthcare practices, particularly regarding their alignment across different providers in controversial domains. This study aimed to explore opinion-seeking behaviours of general practitioners and their impacts on clinical opinions in ambulatory cardiovascular care in Germany.Methods: Between 2019 and 2021, we performed a written survey in two samples of general practitioners and one sample of self-employed cardiologists in three German states. The general practitioners were asked to identify a person they deemed influential on their views on cardiovascular conditions. Their self-perceived opinion leadership and opinion seeking behaviours were then measured, using a validated 12-item-questionnaire. General practitioners and cardiologists were requested to indicate their agreement with three potentially controversial aspects of cardiovascular ambulatory care. Potential impacts on the general practitioners' views, including local cardiologists' opinions, were examined using multi-level linear regression models.Results: A total of 129 general practitioners and 113 cardiologists returned the questionnaire. 68.50% of general practitioners named an opinion leader, mainly cardiologists outside of their practice. General practitioners perceived themselves as opinion seeking and as opinion leading at the same time. Views on the presented controversial topics were mixed among both general practitioners and cardiologists. Self-reported opinion leadership behaviour of general practitioners was associated with their views on one of the three topics. No such associations were found for opinion seeking behaviours and the views of local cardiologists.Conclusion: While most general practitioners named a cardiovascular opinion leader and saw themselves as opinion seeking regarding cardiovascular issues, they simultaneously perceived themselves as opinion leading, suggesting that opinion leadership and opinion seeking are not mutually exclusive concepts. The views of local cardiologists were not associated with the general practitioners' view, suggesting that local medical specialists do not necessarily influence the surrounding opinion seekers' views per se.Trial Registration: We registered the study prospectively on 7 November 2019 at the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS, www.drks.de ) under ID no. DRKS00019219. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU and China are both pioneers in energy transition and are major energy consumers. However, we know little about the attitude of the Chinese public toward EU's energy role or EU–China energy cooperation. The paper contributes to the study of relationship between agenda‐setting and public opinion in the context of Chinese social media. Using empirical data, it finds that energy cooperation, energy trading, energy politics, and energy technology&service are the four co‐occurrence networks of Chinese public discussion on the topic. Yet the opinion leaders differ on these issues. While verified media accounts are key opinion leaders setting the agenda in EU energy politics and trade issues, in energy technology and service issues, verified individual accounts lead opinions. The study helps understand the role of online opinion leaders in EU–China energy relations and argues that key opinion leaders need to play more active roles in communicating the issues and guiding public discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of Internet technology, the innovative value and importance of the open source product community (OSPC) is becoming increasingly significant. Ensuring high robustness is essential to the stable development of OSPC with open characteristics. In robustness analysis, degree and betweenness are traditionally used to evaluate the importance of nodes. However, these two indexes are disabled to comprehensively evaluate the influential nodes in the community network. Furthermore, influential users have many followers. The effect of irrational following behavior on network robustness is also worth investigating. To solve these problems, we built a typical OSPC network using a complex network modeling method, analyzed its structural characteristics and proposed an improved method to identify influential nodes by integrating the network topology characteristics indexes. We then proposed a model containing a variety of relevant node loss strategies to simulate the changes in robustness of the OSPC network. The results showed that the proposed method can better distinguish the influential nodes in the network. Furthermore, the network's robustness will be greatly damaged under the node loss strategies considering the influential node loss (i.e., structural hole node loss and opinion leader node loss), and the following effect can greatly change the network robustness. The results verified the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed robustness analysis model and indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advancements in the field of communication concurrently transpire throughout the evolution of the Internet and its accompanying tools. A free communication opportunity over the internet platform has resulted in the involvement of a sizable people mass in this digital environment. Individuals also pose variations in communication styles since Web 2.0 technology promotes interpersonal connection and communication. Such variations have resulted in modification and deformation in the Two-Stage Flow Theory, which is among the traditional communication models. According to the conventional definition, opinion leaders have the force to potentially influence society with their respective approaches and responses to various events and cases. They have revived alongside the changing media contexts. The transition in these platforms proceeds beyond the change in technology since they facilitate a significant portion of social change. Nowadays, opinion leaders appeal to eventuate social change since they have the potential to convey to a sizable mass of internet users. The vast majority of internet users are influenced by the attitudes and accessions of new opinion leaders while making decisions on their social life, political issues, products, and personal investments. On the one hand, people, groups, companies, and political structures that are aware of the indulgent aspects of the opinion leaders try to persuade them; on the other hand, these entities seek to generate their opinion leaders and forge a follower mass for them. The purpose of the study was to assess the concept of an opinion leader introduced by the Two-Stage Flow Theory and the new context in which it has emerged in light of the elaboration of modern communication technology. The study findings revealed that the Internet and its accompanying tools differed the recent opinion leaders from traditional ones; however, the most critical pillar of this differentiation was digital domains where opinion leaders appeal to large masses composed of different layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]