Overview
We are trying to understand how social media platforms operate -- how they decide how much content of which type to offer users. We are focusing on the three biggest social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. By participating in this study you will help us pierce the veil of these platforms and glimpse into the effects they are having on our society and economy.
In return for your participation, we will pay you $21.
To participate, you need to install our browser extension below (only users of Chrome are eligible).
Instructions
Today
- Download and install our browser extension
- 4-minute intake survey
In the meantime
- Just enjoy social media as usual for 3 months
In 3 months
- Short exit survey
Rewards
- Receive $21 for finishing participation
Enrollment Complete
Recruitment into the study is now complete. The study is ongoing, but new participants will not be able to enroll and download the extension.
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?
Each participant will get a guaranteed amount of $21 in gift cards for participating in the study and completing both surveys. Provided you keep the extension installed until receiving a notification with a link to the endline survey and finish both the intake and endline surveys, you will be awarded a $21 Amazon gift card for participation. You will be ineligible for the payment if we detect that you attempted to take any of the surveys more than once, attempted to have several installations of the extension on one computer, or otherwise cheat the system and act as more than a single participant (although it is ok to have the extension installed on different computers, provided that you enter the same email at the installation).
Our Team
George B. Y.
Ph. D. Student
Columbia University
Rafael Jiménez-Durán
Assistant Professor of Economics
Bocconi University
Andrey Simonov
Gary Winnick and Martin Granoff Associate Professor of Business
Columbia 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 AAAU8500 (Principal Investigator: Andrey Simonov).
Protections During the Study
We will collect page content displayed to you on three platforms: Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook, as well as the time and date of collection. This includes information such as what ads were displayed in the feed, the texts of posts, likes, retweets. We will also collect the time you spend on (but not the content of!) other websites. These will be encrypted and securely stored in our database. For the avoidance of doubt, we never collect, record, or handle any of your private messages, such as in Facebook Messenger.
Protections After the Study
Data are being collected exclusively for the purposes of this study. Data collected by the extension will be securely stored, and no identifiable information will be shared outside the research team. Furthermore, any such information will be deleted after the project concludes. If you would like us to delete your identifiable information at an earlier stage, please contact us and we will do so promptly.