The study found a significant correlation between the number of external links and the journal impact factor for LIS journals. Journals with higher journal impact factor scores…
Abstract
The study found a significant correlation between the number of external links and the journal impact factor for LIS journals. Journals with higher journal impact factor scores tend to attract more links to their Web sites. The study also investigated issues pertaining to data collection methods for webometrics research. It showed that the choice of search engine for data collection could affect the conclusion of a study. Data collected at different time periods were found to be fairly stable. The use of multiple rounds of data collection was shown to be beneficial, especially when the result from a single round of data is borderline significant or inconclusive.
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The purpose of this paper is to theoretically analyze and empirically test the business value of firm web visibility, including its relationship to advertising efficiency and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to theoretically analyze and empirically test the business value of firm web visibility, including its relationship to advertising efficiency and long-term financial performance (i.e. shareholder value).
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework is established to analyze firm value of web visibility through its market effects. Hypotheses on the associations between firm web visibility and advertising efficiency and shareholder value are tested by cross-sectional analysis of 1,331 firms in six industries and four industry sectors. The authors control for several firm- and industry-level factors.
Findings
The results consistently support the two hypotheses, i.e., first, a positive and significant relationship between firm web visibility and advertising efficiency; and second, a positive and significant relationship between firm web visibility and shareholder value.
Practical implications
In addition to increasing web traffic, firm web visibility has business value and helps to enhance advertising efficiency and shareholder value. Managers can use the web references as a valuable tool for marketing success when the use of traditional advertising reaches saturation. Managers should actively monitor and use web visibility as a web management measure in practice.
Originality/value
This research provides convincing evidence to support both short-term and long-term business value of web visibility and suggests that web visibility be recognized and managed as a market-based asset.
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Liwen Vaughan, Margaret Kipp and Yijun Gao
The purpose of this article is to examine the reasons for the creation of co‐links between pairs of business web sites. Specifically, to determine whether co‐linked business web…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to examine the reasons for the creation of co‐links between pairs of business web sites. Specifically, to determine whether co‐linked business web sites are really related.
Design/methodology/approach
Co‐links to 32 telecommunications companies were retrieved using Yahoo! and a random sample of 495 co‐linking pages (the page that initiated the co‐link) were selected for a content analysis. The context of the co‐link and the content of the co‐linking page were manually examined to record the following data: type of web site and the reason for the creation of the co‐link.
Findings
The study found that 61.4 per cent of co‐links were created to connected pairs of highly related businesses (related companies, related products, and related services). Only 14.7 per cent of co‐links were created for non‐business reasons. The remaining 23.8 per cent of co‐linked sites showed a loose or marginal business relationship. The study also found that co‐links targeting home pages (as opposed to non‐homepages) were more likely to connect related businesses. Furthermore, co‐links coming from commercial sites (as opposed to other sites such as educational sites) are more likely to link related businesses.
Originality/value
The findings from this content analysis study confirm results from previous quantitative studies that showed that web co‐links measure relatedness of co‐linked sites and that co‐links can be objects of web data mining. The study contributes to our understanding of link motivations and the web linking phenomenon in general. The difference between links to homepages and that to non‐homepages found in the study can guide us in co‐link data collection.
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Liwen Vaughan, Rongbin Yang and Juan Tang
The study seeks to apply Web co‐word analysis to the Chinese business environment to test the feasibility of the method there.
Abstract
Purpose
The study seeks to apply Web co‐word analysis to the Chinese business environment to test the feasibility of the method there.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors selected a group of companies in two Chinese industries, collected co‐word data for the companies, analyzed the data with multidimensional scaling (MDS), and then compared the MDS maps generated from the co‐word data with business situations to find out if the co‐word method works.
Findings
The study found that the Web co‐word method could potentially be applied to the Chinese environment. The study also found the advantages and disadvantages of the Web co‐word method vs the Web co‐link method.
Originality/value
Knowing the applicability of the Web co‐word method to the Chinese environment contributes to the knowledge of this new Webometrics method. Mining business information from the Web is more valuable when applied to a foreign country where language and culture barriers exist. To use the co‐word method, one does not have to be able to read or write in that language. One only needs to have the names of the companies to study, which can be easily obtained without knowledge of the language. The value of business information about countries such as China is obvious given the global nature of contemporary business competition and the significance of the Chinese economy to the world.
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Liwen Vaughan, Juan Tang and Jian Du
The purpose of this paper is to examine the robustness of web co‐link analysis for business intelligence.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the robustness of web co‐link analysis for business intelligence.
Design/methodology/approach
The method is tested in two different Chinese industries, the electronics/IT industry and the chemical industry. Web co‐link data are collected in two different time periods from a different search engine in each period. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is used to map the co‐link data into business competition positions.
Findings
Web co‐link analysis is fairly robust in that the mapping results reflect fairly well the business competition landscape for both industries and in both time periods. The mapping results are better when the data collection is restricted to Chinese language webpages only. The study also finds that the Chinese webpages are very consumer‐oriented, a phenomenon that is not seen in previous studies of international companies.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the understanding of the robustness and applicability of the co‐link analysis method. The method is useful for business intelligence and can also be applied to the non‐business environment. The paper also contributes to the understanding of a specific Chinese web phenomenon.
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Esteban Romero‐Frías and Liwen Vaughan
The paper seeks to extend co‐link analysis to web sites of heterogeneous companies belonging to different industries and countries, and to cluster companies by industries and…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to extend co‐link analysis to web sites of heterogeneous companies belonging to different industries and countries, and to cluster companies by industries and compare results from different countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Web sites of 255 companies that belong to five stock exchange indexes were included in the study. Data on co‐links pointing to these web sites were gathered using Yahoo!. Co‐link data were analyzed using multidimensional scaling (MDS) to generate MDS maps that would position companies based on their co‐link counts.
Findings
Comparisons of results across different countries and economies showed the following overall pattern: companies whose businesses are information‐based tend to form well‐defined clusters, while companies operating on a more traditional business model tend not to form clear groups. A comparison between the EU zone and the USA suggests that the EU economy is not well integrated yet.
Practical implications
The findings from the study suggest the possibility of using co‐link analysis to distinguish information‐based industries from traditional industries.
Originality/value
The paper extends co‐link analysis from a single industry to heterogeneous industries with global and complex business phenomena.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the feasibility of discovering business information from search engine query data. Specifically the study tried to determine whether search…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the feasibility of discovering business information from search engine query data. Specifically the study tried to determine whether search volumes of company names are correlated with the companies’ business performance and position data.
Design/methodology/approach
The top 50 US companies in the 2012 Fortune 500 list were included in the study. The following business performance and position data were collected: revenues, profits, assets, stockholders’ equity, profits as a percentage of revenues, and profits as a percentage of assets. Data on the search volumes of the company names were collected from Google Trends, which is based on search queries users enter into Google. Google Trends data were collected in the two scenarios of worldwide searches and US searches.
Findings
The study found significant correlations between search volume data and business performance and position data, suggesting that search engine query data can be used to discover business information. Google Trends’ worldwide search data were better than the US domestic search data for this purpose.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to only one country and to one year of data.
Practical implications
Publicly available search engine query data such as those from Google Trends can be used to estimate business performance and position data which are not always publicly available. Search engine query data are timelier than business data.
Originality/value
This is the first study to establish a relationship between search engine query data and business performance and position data.
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To construct web visibility profiles of news web sites by examining hyperlinks pointing to the sites.
Abstract
Purpose
To construct web visibility profiles of news web sites by examining hyperlinks pointing to the sites.
Design/methodology/approach
National newspapers from USA (USA Today), Canada (The Globe and Mail), China (People's Daily) as well as Hong Kong (Sing Tao Daily) were selected for the study. A total of 1,859 links pointing to the four news sites were manually classified into the four aspects of language, country, types of sites, and reasons or purposes for linking.
Findings
A comparison of the four news sites provided useful information on their web visibility. The Globe and Mail seemed to have a larger international reach than USA Today. Neither newspaper web site attracted links from China or from pages in the Chinese language. Outside China, People's Daily, an official Chinese Government newspaper, is not as visible as Hong Kong based Sing Tao Daily. USA Today and The Globe and Mail were used more for news citing or reprinting purposes while People's Daily seemed to be used more as a research resource.
Research limitations/implications
Link analysis like this provides us with only an indirect view of the online readership and the methodology has limitations. Not all readers create links to the newspaper sites that they visit. Readers could be led to a news site through other venues including “social bookmarking” services.
Practical implications
The study shows that link analysis is a novel and useful method that journalists and information professionals can use to gauge online readership and potential impact of news sites.
Originality/value
Presented a novel method that complements but not replaces other web user studies such as web server log analysis.
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Mike Thelwall, Liwen Vaughan, Viv Cothey, Xuemei Li and Alastair G. Smith
The use of the Web by academic researchers is discipline‐dependent and highly variable. It is increasingly central for sharing information, disseminating results and publicising…
Abstract
The use of the Web by academic researchers is discipline‐dependent and highly variable. It is increasingly central for sharing information, disseminating results and publicising research projects. This pilot study seeks to identify the subjects that have the most impact on the Web, and look for national differences in online subject visibility. The highest impact sites were from computing, but there were major national differences in the impact of engineering and technology sites. Another difference was that Taiwan had more high impact non‐academic sites hosted by universities. As a pilot study, the classification process itself was also investigated and the problems of applying subject classification to academic Web sites discussed. The study draws out a number of issues in this regard, having no simple solutions and point to the need to interpret the results with caution.
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Mike Thelwall and Liwen Vaughan
Introduces several new versions of PageRank (the link based Web page ranking algorithm), based on an information science perspective on the concept of the Web document. Although…
Abstract
Introduces several new versions of PageRank (the link based Web page ranking algorithm), based on an information science perspective on the concept of the Web document. Although the Web page is the typical indivisible unit of information in search engine results and most Web information retrieval algorithms, other research has suggested that aggregating pages based on directories and domains gives promising alternatives, particularly when Web links are the object of study. The new algorithms introduced based on these alternatives were used to rank four sets of Web pages. The ranking results were compared with human subjects’ rankings. The results of the tests were somewhat inconclusive: the new approach worked well for the set that includes pages from different Web sites; however, it does not work well in ranking pages that are from the same site. It seems that the new algorithms may be effective for some tasks but not for others, especially when only low numbers of links are involved or the pages to be ranked are from the same site or directory.