Industrial Organization Commons^™

Social Media And Entrepreneurship: The Case Of Food Trucks, Scott J. Wallsten, Corwin Rhyan

Scott J. Wallsten

While the use of social media by firms is nearly ubiquitous, there has been little analysis of its effectiveness in helping small businesses succeed in a highly competitive market. To begin studying this question, we created an extensive dataset on over 250 mobile food trucks—a dynamic, somewhat homogenous, and low-entry cost business that is highly dependent on social media for its business model—which operated in the Washington, DC metro area from 2009 to 2013. We explore how their use of social media and Internet services like Twitter, Facebook, and business webpages effect their ability to stay in business. We find …