Reading Between the Lines: Three Investigations of User Generated Content Using Text Analytics

Abstract

User-generated content (UGC) is a ubiquitous phenomenon on the Internet. UGC inform, entertain, and facilitate conversations among online users. The three essays of this dissertation examine different antecedents of UGC characteristics with text analytics. The first essay explored the effects of psychological distance on UGC positivity and found that spatial and temporal distance boost UGC positivity. The second essay investigates the effects of social media integration on the linguistic characteristic of UGC and showed that social media integration leads to increased review quantity, while more emotional, less rational and less negative language in UGC content. The third essay examines the impact of book-to-film adaptation on the rating and linguistic characteristics of UGC. The results suggest that, after the release of book-to-film adaptations, book ratings decline, and the use of language reflecting viewing, comparison and affective processes increase in book reviews. To summarize, the three essays in this dissertation contributes to research on UGC by improving our understanding on the various antecedents of UGC characteristics.