Has Robert Parker lost his hegemony as a prescriptor in the wine World? A preliminar inquiry through Twitter

Abstract

The aim of this work is to determine to what extent Robert Parker has lost his influence as a prescriber in the world of wine through a webometric analysis based on a comparative analysis of Parker's web influence and that of a competitor who represents an anthitetical vision of the world of wine (Alice Feiring). To do this, we carried out a comparative analysis for Parker's (@wine_advocate) and Alice Feiring's (@alicefeiring) official Twitter accounts, including a broad set of metrics (productivity, age, Social Activity, number of followees, etc.), paying special attention to specific followers' features (age, gender, location, and bios text). The results show that Parker's twitter profile exhibits an overall higher impact, which denotes not only a different online strategy but also a high level of engagement and popularity. The low level of shared followers by Parker and Feiring (1,898 users) offer prima facie evidence of an online gap between these followers, which can indicate the existence of a divided group of supporters corresponding with the visions that Parker and Feiring represent. Finally, special features are notice for Feiring in gender (more women followers), language (more English-speaking followers) and country (more followers from the United States).

Masters of Wine on Twitter: presence, activity, impact and community structure

“…For example, in the case of the wine market, the wellknown wine critic Robert Parker exhibits a Social Authority of 40 as of November 2020. This value was 54 in March 2018 [16], which shows the volatility of prestige, as followers can vary over time.…”

“…According to Wright [44], 84% of wine bloggers use Twitter to promote their blogs. This community of bloggers can be divided into those who have no professional affiliation to the wine industry, entrepreneurial wine bloggers promoting their company, and other bloggers strongly connected to the wine industry and/or press, such as Robert Parker [16].…”