After a fascinating study, researchers at Yale University came to a conclusion that will come as no surprise to regulars on Twitter and social media in general. According to them, the latter tend to amplify publications of indignation. Thus, users are gradually becoming aware that these generate more engagement and change the content of their next messages to more radical positions.
This means that the nature of online political conversations is affected. In detail, the scientists used a machine learning algorithm capable of detecting outrage messages in a publication. Their research then focused on a panel of 12.7 million tweets posted by 7,331 users. The idea was to find out if users grew more outraged over time.
A radicalization of moderate people?
The answer is yes and this would be linked to the incentives received by Internet users. While the number of likes and retweets on fiery posts is greater, these tend to engage more when composing a new post. This hypothesis was then validated in behavioral experiments where users were closely scrutinized.
Another interesting lesson from this study: people who are more moderate politically can sometimes become radicalized over time, attracted by the rewards systems in place and the greater valuation of their messages.
Of course, the authors do not dismiss outrage publications as such and point out that they have at times been the engines of significant societal changes. However, they want to inform the leaders who are preparing to regulate social networks.
Molly Crockett, one of the authors, explains:
The amplification of moral outrage is an obvious consequence of the economic model of social networks, which optimizes user engagement. Since moral outrage plays such a crucial role in social and political change, we must be aware that technology companies, through the design of their platforms, have the capacity to influence the success or failure of collective movements. Our data shows that platforms don’t just reflect what’s going on in society. They create incentives that change the way users react to political events over time.
These results confirm previous research showing that on Twitter, attacking political opponents pays off in terms of engagement.
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