Analyzing the impact of social networks, spatial networks and geographical mobility on user behavior in the mobile internet

This paper examines how social contagion within social networks and spatial networks affects the mobile Internet usage of users. It also studies how the extent of geographical mobility of users is related to their mobile Internet usage. To answer these questions, this paper uses a unique dataset consisting of individual-level mobile data across a panel of users encompassing user content uploading and downloading behavior, voice call data, users' billing address, and precise latitude and longitude location about where calls were placed. A 3SLS (three stage least squares) based simultaneous equations model is used. Results show that the impact of the voice call-based social network on users' mobile Internet usage behavior is higher than the impact of location-based spatial network. Furthermore, the impact of the overlapping network (that is, combination of the social and spatial networks) is much larger than that in either the social network or spatial network. In addition, the extent of geographical mobility of users is also positively associated with their mobile Internet usage. Its impact varies by specific mobility metrics that capture the mean and the variance of their travel patterns, at both the local and national level. This study discusses the economic impact of estimates from the model and provides managerial implications with respect to targeting users in the social network and targeting of mobile ads.