With greater popularity comes less responsibility: the popularity fallacy of Big Vs’ public participation on Sina Weibo

Abstract Although popular users are more influential on social media, there may be a popularity fallacy in their public participation. We examined the relationship between the popularity of the most influential verified users (also known as “Big Vs”) of Sina Weibo and their participation in 63 of the most salient public issues from 2013 to 2016. The results support the existence of the popularity fallacy for Big Vs. Although the popularity of Big Vs has an indirect positive impact on their public participation because of the mediation of public influence, their popularity also has a direct negative impact on their public participation. Overall, their popularity hurts their public participation. We further explain the findings from the perspective of Big Vs’ occupational categories and impression management strategies. The results of this study shed light on our understanding of the limited role played by social media in influencing public participation.