Online Opinion Leaders in Latin America and the Middle East: the case of the Top 20 Most-Viewed Twitter Users

Abstract

This study aims to present the primary results of the project “The participation and social relationships of online opinion leaders on Twitter in Latin America and the Middle East” as part of the authors’ research. This study’s initial hypothesis is that despite the current rise in social networking, the communication flow model proposed by Klaus Jensen (2009) is only partially valid because these digital communication settings provide increased opportunities for the personalized exposure of messages from traditional (offline) opinion leaders rather than facilitating the emergence of new leadership at the social level. The results reveal that these users exhibit intensive Twitter use in both regions and a strong inclination to share information. However, we observed that most of their messages are personal and that fewer discuss the news. In comparison, users in Latin America achieve a greater impact on their networks than do users in the Middle East. The study concludes that the results support Kensen’s model but, as previous studies have confirmed, that new types of online opinion leaders are not actually being produced.