Field Experiments on Social Media

Abstract

Online behavioral data, such as digital traces from social media, have the potential to allow researchers an unprecedented new window into human behavior in ecologically valid everyday contexts. However, research using such data is often purely observational, which limits its usefulness for identifying causal relationships. Here we review recent innovations in experimental approaches to studying online behavior, with a particular focus on research related to misinformation and political psychology. In hybrid lab-field studies, exposure to social-media content can be randomized, and the impact on attitudes and beliefs can be measured using surveys, or exposure to treatments can be randomized within survey experiments, and their impact on subsequent online behavior can be observed. In field experiments conducted on social media, randomized treatments can be administered directly to users in the online environment (e.g., via social-tie invitations, private messages, or public posts) without revealing that they are part of an experiment, and the effects on subsequent online behavior can then be observed. The strengths and weaknesses of each approach are discussed, along with practical advice and central ethical constraints on such studies.

Measuring exposure to misinformation from political elites on Twitter

“…These kinds of studies typically involve examining the content users post on social media 8 , 11 , 12 , linking survey responses to social media data 13 , 14 or open web data 15 , or conducting field experiments on social media and measuring the impact of interventions on subsequent sharing 16 , 17 (for methodological reviews, see refs. 18 – 20 ). A key challenge for such studies is determining how to rate the quality of the content the users share or consume.…”

People are worse at detecting fake news in their foreign language.

“…These results highlight that people using their second language, potentially including refugees and economic immigrants who are especially vulnerable groups, can be less able to gain accurate information about their environment through online news sources partially populated by fake news. If further studies (preferably field studies on social media, Mosleh et al, 2021) confirm this phenomenon, methods that help bilinguals use their FL in navigating news media should be developed.…”

Black‐and‐white thinking and conspiracy beliefs prevent parents from vaccinating their children against COVID‐19

“…When evaluating complex situations, individuals who show absolutist thinking may be more prone to use heuristics and mental shortcuts (Stanovich & West, 1999 ) to arrive at quick closure. The preference to resort to dichotomic solutions to problems makes individuals more susceptible to belief in untrustworthy information sources (Salvi et al, 2021 ), which further leads to the adherence to conspiracy theories (Mosleh et al, 2021 ; Pisl et al, 2021 ; Stoica & Umbreș, 2021 ). Our results confirmed this prediction: parents' tendency to absolutist thinking predicted their beliefs in conspiracy theories, as attempts to explain significant events through secret plots orchestrated by powerful and malevolent actors (Douglas et al, 2019 ).…”