A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization

Abstract

Human behaviour is thought to spread through face-to-face social networks, but it is difficult to identify social influence effects in observational studies9–13, and it is unknown whether online social networks operate in the same way14–19. Here we report results from a randomized controlled trial of political mobilization messages delivered to 61 million Facebook users during the 2010 US congressional elections. The results show that the messages directly influenced political self-expression, information seeking and real-world voting behaviour of millions of people. Furthermore, the messages not only influenced the users who received them but also the users’ friends, and friends of friends. The effect of social transmission on real-world voting was greater than the direct effect of the messages themselves, and nearly all the transmission occurred between ‘close friends’ who were more likely to have a face-to-face relationship. These results suggest that strong ties are instrumental for spreading both online and real-world behaviour in human social networks.

The evolution of the Internet: from military experiment to General Purpose Technology

“…This is just one example of the uncharted territory that societies are now trying to navigate. Similar questions can be asked about Facebook's documented power to affect its users' moods (Kramer, Guillory, and Hancock 2014) and to influence their voting behaviour (Bond et al 2012).…”

Trends in Voter Surveillance in Western Societies: Privacy Intrusions and Democratic Implications

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Do Online Advertisements Increase Political Candidates’ Name Recognition or Favorability? Evidence from Randomized Field Experiments

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