How can extreme views spread, influence opinion? Binghamton researchers have the answer
Experts examine impact of 'eccentric' opinions on social networks
Politicians make an incendiary remark that鈥檚 replayed and discussed on TV news networks for days. Over-the-top social media posts rack up reactions and a flow of sometimes-heated commentary. Misleading headlines entice readers to click or even share a link without having read the article at all.
In crowded mediums driven by clicks and shares, extreme or eccentric content and viewpoints can easily dominate the conversation. But is being the proverbial 鈥渓oudest in the room鈥 always a good thing?
Researchers from 黑料视频鈥檚 Watson College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the School of Management confronted this question in examining the power of extreme or, as they call it, eccentric viewpoints. Specifically, researchers focused on how society, social interactions, and information exposure play dominant roles in building or altering opinions.
Sriniwas Pandey, a lecturer in Watson鈥檚 Department of Computer Science who helped lead the research, says the study helped demonstrate that more eccentric opinions can be necessary to maintain popularity among those who share such beliefs, even if the topic of discussion is not traditionally extreme.
鈥淚f you want to get attention about anything, not even a political or religious subject, you will get attention if you say something that鈥檚 kind of extreme,鈥 Pandey says. 鈥淭he more you see others sharing similar opinions, the more likely it will start cementing your belief in that particular direction.鈥
The two-year study mostly centered on a spectrum of 鈥渆ccentric ideas鈥 that could be shared through personal social media channels. But it also found examples in nationally debated subjects such as vaccinations or gun ownership and their impact in areas that include:
- social policy and the increasing desire by people on social networks to be viewed as popular or influential
- the democratic process and how voters respond
- the best ways for groups to collaborate in professional or academic settings
鈥淛ust because someone says something crazy or very far to one side, they may get more attention or 鈥榣ikes鈥 on social media, though that doesn鈥檛 always mean what they said is meaningful or even true,鈥 Pandey says. 鈥淚t is very difficult to keep track of eccentricity in a scenario when we are getting caught up in a social bubble, and our neighbors are moving with us together on this 鈥榚ccentricity elevator.鈥 One of the solutions is to keep checking where you stand by asking yourself, 鈥榃hat is happening to my own opinions? What was I saying last year, and where am I right now?鈥欌
Trust but verify
Whether it鈥檚 being applied in professional contexts or social media, Pandey says one of the easiest ways ideas can become more and more eccentric and go too far astray is when people get swept up in back-and-forth commentary by making or responding to statements without verifying their truthfulness.
Thi Tran, assistant professor of management information systems in the School of Management, conducts research about reducing the harms of misinformation. He says people generally gravitate toward social media or news content that essentially reaffirms their existing viewpoints. This can make it difficult for people to think critically about what鈥檚 being shared.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e 鈥榗herry-picking鈥 a fact, you鈥檙e trying to grab only those that you鈥檙e in favor of, and that can be made worse when people find that it鈥檚 backed up by many similar points online,鈥 Tran says. 鈥淭his will help make it seem more conventional to readers, even if it鈥檚 extreme or untrue, and more readers will jump on board by spreading that information.鈥
In this area, Tran鈥檚 research shows there are really two forms of misinformation: those who spread it intending to mislead and those who do so inadvertently, such as passing along updates about a developing news event that later are proven inaccurate.
鈥淲e should be more concerned about misinformation that will cause harm and understand a person鈥檚 motive for spreading it. Is it because of their bias, political affiliation, or personal experiences?鈥 Tran says. 鈥淢aybe they had a bad experience from a vaccine that shaped their perception and because of that, only want to share bad news about any vaccine. If so, they鈥檝e fallen into the trap: they鈥檙e spreading misinformation while influenced by their own situation.鈥
Putting theory into practice
While it was evident to Pandey and fellow researchers that some high-profile and politically divisive issues lent themselves to generating increasingly stronger opinions, they also wanted to examine if the same could be true of other topics.
Yiding Cao, MA 鈥16, PhD 鈥23, who worked on the study while a doctoral student at Watson, says they aimed to translate their subject from a personal setting into a professional one by understanding how a social network structure could affect the collaborative process of an organization.
鈥淲e learned how ideas generated from experiment participants could converge or diverge over time from beginning to end,鈥 Cao says, 鈥渁nd that added to our overall understanding of effective collaboration.鈥
The researchers began by designing an experimental social media platform that bore similarities to Twitter. They recruited teams of 黑料视频 students from different majors to use it over the course of two weeks.
Students were given two collaboration-based tasks: writing marketing taglines and short fictional stories. They could only see and add comments to ideas posted by those in their network.
As a result, Cao says, the study showed more definitively that if someone posts a 鈥渘ormal idea,鈥 it might not gain much traction within the social media network. But, if that person posts something unique 鈥 an eccentric idea, for instance 鈥 it鈥檚 more likely to attract responses.
Cao says that how it fits in the context of collaboration boils down to time management and curating group dynamics.
鈥淭hink about accomplishing a task within your own organization and whether you want to talk to everyone or just a limited number of people,鈥 Cao says. 鈥淚t depends on how long you want to work on a collaboration-based task and whether you think spending a longer amount of time or a shorter amount of time with that group might produce a better result.鈥
With this research in mind, Pandey says that organizations could find ways to analyze how their members communicate, and educational institutions could scrutinize how students behave in classrooms more closely. This could create more opportunities for early intervention before any social conflicts become irreparable.
鈥淔ollowing similar-minded people on social media can result in an 鈥榚cho chamber鈥 effect because everyone is basically saying the same thing. The drive for increased attention compels us to pursue more eccentric opinions or approaches,鈥 Pandey says. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 realize that the 鈥榟eat鈥 is increasing until either we become a victim of some hate or until we become attackers ourselves.鈥