Impact of External Stimuli on Social Media Engagement: A SME Perspective

This paper aims to define and analyze the factors contributing to the frequency and rate of social media platform utilization. The focus of the research is on social media big data and weather as an external force. Juxtaposing weather related data, Twitter metadata and various data mining algorithms are used to determine the relationships between an external condition and the level of user engagement on social media. The research findings indicate that weather attributes alone and in combination with others have direct influence on the level of user engagement. While there are several leading social media platforms in the USA, the research utilized Twitter considering data over a one-month period. The highlights of this research will help organizations that run social media platforms estimate resource utilization based on provided weather forecasts. The paper illustrates the drivers of social media engagement while providing data sourcing and social media platform organizations with directions for resource allocation and provisioning.