User Content Generation and Usage Behavior on the Mobile Internet: An Empirical Analysis

33 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2010 Last revised: 6 Sep 2014

See all articles by Anindya Ghose

Anindya Ghose

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business

Sang Pil Han

Arizona State University, W.P.Carey School of Business

Date Written: March 1, 2011

Abstract

We quantify how user mobile Internet usage relates to unique characteristics of the mobile Internet. In particular, we focus on examining how the mobile-phone based content generation behavior of users relates to content usage behavior. The key objective is to analyze whether there is a positive or negative interdependence between the two activities. We use a unique panel dataset that consists of individual-level mobile Internet usage data that encompasses individual multimedia content generation and usage behavior. We combine this knowledge with data on user calling patterns, such as duration, frequency, and locations from where calls are placed to construct their social network and to compute their geographical mobility. We build an individual-level simultaneous equation panel data model that controls for the different sources of endogeneity of the social network. We find that there is a negative and statistically significant temporal interdependence between content generation and usage. This finding implies that an increase in content usage in the previous period has a negative impact on content generation in the current period and vice versa. The marginal effect of this interdependence is stronger on content usage (up to 8.7%) than on content generation (up to 4.3%). The extent of geographical mobility of users has a positive effect on their mobile Internet activities. Users more frequently engage in content usage compared to content generation when they are traveling. In addition, the variance of user mobility has a stronger impact on their mobile Internet activities than does the mean. We also find that the social network has a strong positive effect on user behavior in the mobile Internet. These analyses unpack the mechanisms that stimulate user behavior on the mobile Internet. Implications for shaping user mobile Internet usage behavior are discussed.

Keywords: Mobile Internet, Uploading, Downloading, Interdependence, Geographical Mobility, Social Networks, Spatial Networks, Econometrics, Identification

Suggested Citation

Ghose, Anindya and Han, Sang Pil, User Content Generation and Usage Behavior on the Mobile Internet: An Empirical Analysis (March 1, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1669678 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1669678

Anindya Ghose (Contact Author)

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business ( email )

44 West 4th Street
Suite 9-160
New York, NY NY 10012
United States

Sang Pil Han

Arizona State University, W.P.Carey School of Business ( email )

Tempe, AZ 85287-3706
United States
480-965-8603 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://apps.wpcarey.asu.edu/directory/people/profile.cfm?person=2255149

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