The Effects of Rewarding User Engagement: The Case of Facebook Apps.

Author List: Claussen, Jorg; Kretschmer, Tobias; Mayrhofer, Philip;
Information Systems Research, 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1, Page 186-200.
We study the market for apps on Facebook, the dominant social networking platform, and make use of a rule change by Facebook by which highly engaging apps were rewarded with further opportunities to engage users. The rule change led to new applications with significantly higher user ratings being developed. Moreover, user ratings became more important drivers of app success. Other drivers of app success are also affected by the rule change; sheer network size became a less important driver for app success, update frequency benefitted apps more in staying successful, and active users of Facebook apps declined less rapidly with age. Our results show that social media channels do not necessarily have to be managed through hard exclusion of participants but can also be steered through "softer" changes in reward and incentive systems.
Keywords: app markets; Facebook; platform management; social media
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#107 0.284 app brand mobile apps paid utility facebook use consumption users brands effects activities categories patterns controls extension store positive factor
#185 0.129 change organizational implementation case study changes management organizations technology organization analysis successful success equilibrium radical efforts initiatives managing resistance individuals
#234 0.121 social networks influence presence interactions network media networking diffusion implications individuals people results exchange paper sites evidence self-disclosure important examine
#284 0.111 users user new resistance likely benefits potential perspective status actual behavior recognition propose user's social associated existing base using acceptance
#242 0.075 market competition competitive network markets firms products competing competitor differentiation advantage competitors presence dominant structure share using incumbent make important
#98 0.061 platform platforms dynamics ecosystem greater generation open ecosystems evolution two-sided technologies investigate generations migration services implications interplay disruptive control markets