Who knows more? The role of structural hole spanners in accurate information identification on social media

Based on structural hole theory, this study explores the differences in the ability of Chinese social media users with different characteristics to provide accurate information. Using over 20 million interactive data from 2.19 million users, we construct a social network and identify structural hole spanners and ordinary users. As key players in a network, structural hole spanners are typically located at the intersections of different groups or information sources. They differ from ordinary users in the way they gather and disseminate information. The empirical results indicate that the accuracy of market judgements by structural hole spanners is at least 12.38 % higher than that of ordinary users. Strategy simulations show that using information from structural hole spanners to make investment decisions can achieve a 116 % cumulative return during the backtesting period, nearly four times that of ordinary users. This information advantage occurs primarily because opinion distance and information uniqueness play significant roles in improving information accuracy. This study not only helps deepen understanding of information dissemination characteristics among heterogeneous users on social media but also provides empirical support for the application of structural hole theory in finance, with important theoretical and practical implications.