The Effect of Incentive Hierarchy System of Social Media In the Delivery of Quality Information

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of social media incentive hierarchy system on the quality of the shared information and the spillover effect using data from 67 cryptocurrency markets along with the corresponding social media discussions. We show empirical evidence that high-rank social media users displaying high-level badges earned from the social media tend to provide low-quality information due to reduced incentives after obtaining the badge and increased tendency to engage in less informative socialization activities. In contrast, low-rank social media users with low-level badges tend to provide high-quality information. However, messages shared by high-rank social media users spill over to other cryptocurrency markets more easily because of higher visibility in the online community.