Overview
As recommendation systems and AI become increasingly present in our online experience, it is important to understand the impact of various approaches to content curation. For this project, we are recruiting participants to download a browser extension that will make small adjustments to the composition of content presented to users on the desktop versions of up to three platforms: Facebook, Twitter (X), and Reddit.
In return for your participation, we will pay you $15. You will also be entered into drawings for additional rewards up to $500.
To participate, you need to install our browser extension below (only users of Chrome are eligible).
Instructions
Today
- Download and install our browser extension
- 10-minute intake survey
In 6 weeks
- 10-minute survey
- Get $15 for completion
In 6 more weeks
- 10-minute endline survey
- Drawing for a gift card for up to $500
Enroll Now
To download the extension and enroll into the study, please enter your email. We will use it to contact you and to transfer rewards for participation.
Use your main email address, to make it easy to remember later.
We will only use your email to contact you about your participation in this study. We will never sell or share it. If you have installed the extension before, use the same email as last time.
Details
Am I eligible?
The study is open to all adults residing in the United States who use their desktop computers to access Facebook, X (Twitter), or Reddit.
What is required?
We will ask you to install the browser extension that we designed for this study and complete short surveys at the beginning and at the end -- and that's all! Just keep the extension installed on the computer that you use to access social media, and you don't need to do anything else.
If you use several computers, you are welcome to keep the extension installed on all of them (in fact, we would appreciate that). It is important that you enter the same email during registration.
Will you see any of my private messages?
No! Absolutely not. We do not want to collect such data and our universities do not allow us to collect such data. It is extremely important to us that our participants feel safe regarding such delicate matters, so we encourage you to read our Privacy and Security section below.
Is the study confidential?
Yes! Absolutely. The privacy and confidentiality of your data are of paramount importance both to us and to our universities. We use state-of-the-art encryption protocols for all identifiable data and only the members of the team will ever have the keys. Furthermore, we will destroy all identifiable information after the study is concluded. It is extremely important to us that our participants feel safe regarding such delicate matters, so we encourage you to read our Privacy and Security section below.
What are the rewards?
You will receive a $15 Amazon gift card after completing the first follow-up survey. After the final survey (which will happen in approximately five months), we will enter you in a drawing to win larger Amazon gift cards. For each 1,500 participants, we will give away $1,000 in gift cards: one $500 card, one $50 card, and 15 $30 cards, giving each participant a one-in-88 chance of winning.
A single individual may not win more than one gift card. You may be ineligible for the payment if we detect that you attempted to take the survey more than once. Drawing winners will be notified by email. You are responsible for any potential tax payments associated with prizes.
Our Team
George B. Y.
Ph. D. Student
Columbia University
Kylan Rutherford
Postdoctoral Fellow
New York University
Mateusz Stalinski
Assistant Professor
University of Warwick
Privacy and Security
Protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our users is of paramount importance both to us and our universities. The study and all of its procedures have been examined and approved by the internal review board of Columbia University under protocol number AAAU8117 (Principal Investigator: Don Green).
Our study uses a browser extension to help us evaluate the relationship between social media use and corresponding attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The study involves some intake survey questions, followed by installing a browser extension that collects some of the content displayed to you on X, Reddit, and Facebook, and may sometimes modify the content on those pages. The extension will also record the amount of time you spend on other sites. The extension never collects anything related to your private messages.
Our database is encrypted, so that nobody can read the data even in the very unlikely event of a database breach. Identifiable information will never be shared outside of the research team and will be destroyed after the project concludes. We will de-link your email address from your responses prior to publication. De-identified information from this study may be used for future research studies. Please contact us if you have any doubts or concerns.