旅游虚拟社区中意见领袖的网络权力特征及形成机制--以去哪儿网为例

Network Power Characteristics and Formation Mechanism of Opinion Leaders in Virtual Tourist Community:A Case Study of the Qunar.com

旅游虚拟社区意见领袖是同时占据位置优势和资源优势的社区参与成员,他们能够控制和制约网络中其他成员的行为,进而产生网络权力。文章以去哪儿网为例,利用Python 3.0网络爬虫技术采集香港都会海逸酒店2016—2019年点评问答社区中用户发布或者回复的帖子;运用Ucinet 6.0分析软件建立旅游虚拟社区参与成员互动关系网络,利用中心度和结构洞指标测度网络结构权力,确定意见领袖。随后,文章重点聚焦于意见领袖的形成过程,采用文本分析的方法,探究意见领袖的网络权力特征及形成机制。研究发现:旅游虚拟社区意见领袖的网络权力具有自赋与他给、非强制与非显性、中介控制性与小范围性、动态性与非对称性4个表现特征。进一步研究发现,意见领袖的网络权力形成于专门话题讨论,基于旅游虚拟社区平台平等的参与环境和成员间持续有效的互动,某些成员在原有声望基础上,凭借个人魅力、专业知识等吸引和控制着其他参与成员,逐步占据了网络中的核心位置,成为网络中的活跃分子并具有了网络权力,网络权力在网络位置优势下被持续放大,活跃分子继续凝聚网络成员,在不断地跟帖与回帖互动中影响他人的旅游行为决策和思想意识,成为网络意见领袖,并深化和扩大着网络权力。

Virtual tourist community is a virtual platform where tourists are gathered around relevant tourism information and tourism activities in cyberspace.Opinion leaders are key individuals in virtual tourist community.They are community participants who occupy both location and resource advantages that enable them to control and restrict the behaviors of other members in the network,thus resulting in network power.Therefore,it is very important to study the characteristics and formation mechanism of opinion leaders’network power in virtual tourist community.Taking Qunar.com as an example,this paper uses Python 3.0 web crawler technology to collect the posts published or replied by users in the Q&A community of Harbour Plaza Metropoli from 2016 to 2019,and applies Ucinet 6.0analysis software to establishing the interactive relationship network among members of virtual tourist community.After having measured network power through centrality and structural hole index,this paper ascertained the existence of five opinion leaders in the virtual tourist community.Then,the paper focuses on the formation process of opinion leaders and adopts the method of text analysis to explore the characteristics and formation mechanism of opinion leaders’network power.This paper finds that there are four characteristics of network power of opinion leaders in virtual tourist community.First,based on the source of power,it is empowered by itself and others.The network power of opinion leaders comes not only from their own knowledge and experience,continuous interaction and various creation of community content,but also from the network location based on self-empowerment and recognition from other members.Second,based on the virtual community platform,it is non-mandatory and non-dominant.The network power is realized by opinion leaders through“soft power”such as attraction,persuasion and cooperation,and is hidden in the reply posts about community content.Third,based on network location,it has intermediary control,and it is limited in scope.In the virtual tourist community,opinion leaders play the role of intermediaries,affecting the flow of information in the network,while each opinion leader,with a limited influence in the community,is relatively independent of each other.Fourth,based on the evolution of community network,it has the characteristics of dynamics and asymmetry.The network power of opinion leaders will change with the evolution of virtual tourist community network;in this dynamic process,the network power received by opinion leaders is different from the power they have over other members,which is the asymmetry of network power.Further research finds that factors of the formation mechanism of opinion leaders’network power in virtual tourist community include opinion leaders’professional knowledge,special network location,equal platform participation environment,continuous and effective interaction among members,opinion leaders’reputation system and personal charm,and so on.More specifically,the network power of opinion leaders in the virtual tourist community is formed in the discussion of specific topics.Based on the equal participation environment of virtual tourist community platform and the continuous and effective interaction among members,some members use their original reputation,personal charm and professional knowledge to attract and control other participants.In this way,they gradually occupy the core position of the network,become active in the network and possess network power.With the advantage of network position,their network power is continuously amplified.These active members continue to draw other network members in the continuous interaction of follow-up and reply posts through which they wield an influence over tourism decision-making behavior and ideology of new participants.During this process,they become opinion leaders in the network,and deepen and expand their network power.