1. Value of a Network laws:
The value of a network, unexplored implication for mobile app: Doctor Chat case study
Davide Di Fatta PhD Student Dep. SEAS Polytechnic School - University of Palermo(Italy)
Francesco Cupido Researcher Faculty of Medicine - University of Palermo (Italy).
Aims of the study
The mobile-app market is quite competitive: there are over a million mobile apps in various marketplaces (Google Play Store, Apple Store etc). Online Social Networks (OSNs) is the new dominant paradigm, but developers need more information about apps in order to quantify their value: this paper aim to develop a context-specific framework.
Research Question
How determine the value of a network for a mobile app?
Methodology
A theoretical framework is proposed based on wide literature review to define the better way to estimate the value for a mobile app. Subsequently, an exploratory case study is described in order to confirm our findings and practical implications: six months internship in Doctor Chat start up, collecting also interviews with CEO , founder and co-founders.
Theoretical framework
Strong and weak ties
Granovetter (1973)
Value of a Network laws:
Metcalfe (1995), Reed (1999), Odlyzko, A., and Tilly, B. (2005).
Research Highlights
This paper recognizes the inability of traditional instruments to estimate the value of a network for mobile apps. Therefore, we provide a new estimation model through “Doctor Chat” case study
downloads
5 continents
6 languages: english, french, italian, spanish, portuguese and chinese
References
Andzulis, J. M., Panagopoulos, N. G., & Rapp, A. (2012). A review of social media and implications for the sales process. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 32(3),
Arakji, R. Y., & Lang, K. R. (2007). Digital consumer networks and producer-consumer collaboration: Innovation and product development in the digital entertainment industry. In System Sciences, HICSS th Annual Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 211c-211c). IEEE.
Ashley, C., and Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology and Marketing, 32(1),
Granovetter, M. (1973), The strength of weak ties, American Journal of Sociology, 78,
Granovetter, M. (1983), The strength of weak ties: a network theory revisited, Sociological Theory, 1,
Metcalfe, B. (1995), Metcalfe’s law: a network becomes more valuable as it reaches more users, Infoworld, October 2, 1995.
Milgram, S. (1967), The small-world problem Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers LLC, 1,
Norris, G., Balls, J. D., and Hartley, K. M. (2000).E-business and ERP: Transforming the Enterprise. John Wiley and Sons, Inc..
Odlyzko, A., and Tilly, B. (2005). A refutation of Metcalfe’s Law and a better estimate for the value of networks and network interconnections. Manuscript, March, 2, 2005.
Peppard, J., & Rylander, A. (2006). From value chain to value network: Insights for mobile operators. European Management Journal, 24(2),
Ransbotham, S., Kane, G. C., & Lurie, N. H. (2012). Network characteristics and the value of collaborative user-generated content. Marketing Science, 31(3),  
Reed, E. P. (1999), The sneaky exponential- beyond Metcalfe’s law to the power of community building, Context Magazine. 
Reed, E. P. (2001) The law of the pack, Harvard Business Review, March,  
Rosenbaum, J. E., Kariya, T., Settersten, R. and Maier, T. (1990). Market and network theories of the transition from high school to work: Their application to industrialized societies. Annual review of sociology,
Watts, D. J. and Strogatz, S. H. (1998), Collective dynamics of small world networks, Nature, vol. 393,