Growing Two-Sided Networks by Advertising the User Base: A Field Experiment
Two-sided exchange networks (such as eBay.com) often advertise their number of users, presumably to encourage further participation. However, these networks differ markedly on how they advertise their user base. Some highlight the number of sellers, some emphasize the number of buyers, and others di...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/69866 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1635-3797 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1847-4832 |
| _version_ | 1826215571195166720 |
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| author | Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth Zhang, Juanjuan |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth Zhang, Juanjuan |
| author_sort | Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Two-sided exchange networks (such as eBay.com) often advertise their number of users, presumably to encourage further participation. However, these networks differ markedly on how they advertise their user base. Some highlight the number of sellers, some emphasize the number of buyers, and others disclose both. We use field experiment data from a business-to-business website to examine the efficacy of these different display formats. Before each potential seller posted a listing, the website randomized whether to display the number of buyers and/or sellers, and if so, how many buyers and/or sellers to claim. We find that when information about both buyers and sellers is displayed, a large number of sellers deters further seller listings. However, this deterrence effect disappears when only the number of sellers is presented. Similarly, a large number of buyers is more likely to attract new listings when it is displayed together with the number of sellers. These results suggest the presence of indirect network externalities, whereby a seller prefers markets with many other sellers because they help attract more buyers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:35:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/69866 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:35:41Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/698662022-10-02T08:20:20Z Growing Two-Sided Networks by Advertising the User Base: A Field Experiment Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth Zhang, Juanjuan Sloan School of Management Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth Zhang, Juanjuan Two-sided exchange networks (such as eBay.com) often advertise their number of users, presumably to encourage further participation. However, these networks differ markedly on how they advertise their user base. Some highlight the number of sellers, some emphasize the number of buyers, and others disclose both. We use field experiment data from a business-to-business website to examine the efficacy of these different display formats. Before each potential seller posted a listing, the website randomized whether to display the number of buyers and/or sellers, and if so, how many buyers and/or sellers to claim. We find that when information about both buyers and sellers is displayed, a large number of sellers deters further seller listings. However, this deterrence effect disappears when only the number of sellers is presented. Similarly, a large number of buyers is more likely to attract new listings when it is displayed together with the number of sellers. These results suggest the presence of indirect network externalities, whereby a seller prefers markets with many other sellers because they help attract more buyers. 2012-03-26T19:58:34Z 2012-03-26T19:58:34Z 2010-01 2009-11 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0732-2399 1526-548X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/69866 Tucker, C., and J. Zhang. “Growing Two-Sided Networks by Advertising the User Base: A Field Experiment.” Marketing Science 29.5 (2010): 805–814. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1635-3797 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1847-4832 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.1100.0560 Marketing Science Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences Prof. Tucker via Alex Caracuzzo |
| spellingShingle | Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth Zhang, Juanjuan Growing Two-Sided Networks by Advertising the User Base: A Field Experiment |
| title | Growing Two-Sided Networks by Advertising the User Base: A Field Experiment |
| title_full | Growing Two-Sided Networks by Advertising the User Base: A Field Experiment |
| title_fullStr | Growing Two-Sided Networks by Advertising the User Base: A Field Experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Growing Two-Sided Networks by Advertising the User Base: A Field Experiment |
| title_short | Growing Two-Sided Networks by Advertising the User Base: A Field Experiment |
| title_sort | growing two sided networks by advertising the user base a field experiment |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/69866 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1635-3797 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1847-4832 |
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