Language, brand and speech acts on Twitter

Purpose: As a social media platform, Twitter enables direct, continuous and real-time communication across many markets simultaneously. Drawing on speech act theory (SAT), this study aims to view tweets as “speech acts” and explores whether language and brand on Twitter influence firm value. Design/methodology/approach: The frequency of two language types (accommodative and defensive) used on four corporate Twitter accounts for Sony and Microsoft was observed during the product launch periods of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, respectively, covering 5,056 tweets. A linear mixed model was used to analyze whether language and brand influence firm value. Findings: Results show that accommodative language used by firms on their corporate Twitter accounts has an overall negative influence on firm value the following day, whereas the use of defensive language has a positive influence. Moreover, the effects of these language types on firm value are attenuated when the Twitter accounts are personal, compared to the brand accounts. Research limitations/implications: This study focuses on one type of social media platform (Twitter) and one product category (video game consoles). Future studies should investigate other platforms and product categories to improve generalizability. Practical implications: Managers should carefully strategize their use of Twitter, especially the use of language and account type, as they can significantly affect firm value. Originality/value: This study applies SAT to explain how language and brand on Twitter can influence firm value.