What Motivates Consumers To Re-Tweet Brand Content? The Impact of Information, Emotion, And Traceability on Pass-Along Behavior

How do certain cues influence pass-along behavior (re-Tweeting) of brand messages on Twitter? Analyzing 19,343 global brand messages over a three-year period, the authors of this article found that informational cues were predictors of higher levels of re-Tweeting, particularly product details and links to a brand's website, social network sites, and photos or videos. And, although emotional cues did not influence re-Tweeting on their own, they reinforced the effects of informational cues and traceability cues (hashtags) when combined in the same message. In other words, Twitter users especially are interested in messages that are rich in informational content.