Impact of user influence on information multi-step communication in micro-blog

User influence is generally considered as one of the most critical factors that affect the information cascading spreading. Based on the common assumption, this paper proposes a theoretical model to examine the force from user influence on the information multi-step communication in micro-blog. Multi-step of information communication is divided into first-step and non-first-step, and user influence is classified into five dimensions. Actual data from Sina micro-blog is collected to construct the model by means of an approach based on structural equations with Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. Experimental results indicate that the dimensions of number of fans and authority significantly impact the information first-step communication. Leader rank has a positive impact on both first-step and non-first-step communication. Moreover, global centrality and weight of friends are positively related to the information non-first-step communication, but authority is found to have much less relation to it.