An overview of Web research areas of interest to social scientists presented at Brunel University 3 March 2010, including an overview of my attempts to understand social influence online for my PhD thesis (http://alekskrotoski.com/tags/phd). includes general findings and an overview of the themes discussed in BBC2's Virtual Revolution series.

1. Studying Social Influence on the
World Wide Web
Aleks Krotoski
University of Surrey
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

2. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

3. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Problems with studying cyberspace
•Anonymity?
•Absence of hierarchy?
•Transience?
•Lack of consequence?
•Generalisation?
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

4. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Correll, S. (1995). The Ethnography of an
Electronic Bar: The Lesbian Cafe. Journal
of Contemporary Ethnography, 24, 270-
298.
Dibbell, J. (1999). My tiny life: Crime and
passion in a virtual world. London: Fourth
Estate Limited.
Jacobsson, M. & Taylor, T. L. (2003). The
Sopranos meets EverQuest: Social
networking in massively multiplayer online
games. In MelbourneDAC, the 5th
International Digital Arts and Culture
Conference (pp. 81-90). Melbourne,
The World Wide Web Australia: School of Applied
Image by Tonionick1 Communication, RMIT.
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

5. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Castronova, E. (2003). The Price of "Man"
and "Woman": A hedonic pricing model of
avatar attributes in a synthetic world.
Social Science Research Network
Electronic Library [On-line]. Available:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?a
bstract_id=415043
Raymond, E. S. (2000). Homesteading on
the Noosphere. First Monday [On-line].
Available:
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3
_10/raymond/index.html
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

6. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

7. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Three questions:
1. What does it mean to be ‘close’ to someone in an
online community?
2. How do online community networks affect
attitudes?
3. How does information spread through online
communities?
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

8. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Second Life (2006-2008)
•Social Virtual World
•Male/Female 40/60 split
•Average age 35
•Sizeable population…
•Emergent social phenomena
•http://www.nyls.edu/stateofplay
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

9. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

10. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
What does it mean to be ‘close’ to someone in an online community?
•Online sociometric survey
•Random sample
•Psychological factors: Trust, credibility, social comparison,
prototypicality
•Social network factors: Avatar modification, Partnership,
Public/Private/non-Second Life communication
•N=33
•Multi-level modelling
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

11. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Importance of offline identity in Online Social Influence:
Closest trust relationships allowed Avatar modification
and non-Second Life communication
Public displays of closeness (partnerships, public Second Life
communication) resulted in higher ratings of group prototypicality
and credibility
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

12. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
How do online community networks affect attitudes?
•Online social network analysis
•Five wave snowball sample
•Psychological factors: Trust, credibility, social comparison,
prototypicality, personal attitude, perceptions of friends’ attitudes
•Social network factors: Public/Private/non-Second Life
communication, position and structure of local network
•N=734 (9,561 connections)
•Social network analysis
•Multi-level modelling
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

13. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Importance of perceptions of attitudes in
Online Social Influence:
•Online perceptions demonstrated heightened pluralistic ignorance
Importance of networks in Online Social Influence:
•Tight-knit clusters reported similar attitudes
•Integrated members were less like other network members
Relationship between perceptions of attitudes and
networks in Online Social Influence:
•Density of networks predicted correct perceptions of attitudes
•Integration in networks did not predict correct perceptions of
networks’ attitudes
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

14. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
How does information spread through online communities?
•Longitudinal social network analysis (August 2007-April 2008)
•Whole network analysis
•Psychological factors: Trust, credibility, social comparison,
prototypicality, personal attitude, perceptions of friends’
behaviour
•Social network factors: Position in and structure of network
•N=47,643 (80,000+ connections)
•Social network analysis
•Multi-level modelling, linear regression
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

15. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Behaviour online doesn’t spread like behaviour offline:
•Multiple periods of rapid uptake reflecting ‘long tail’ (Anderson,
2006) and reciprocal innovation patterns (Markus, 1987)
Online norms about the innovation influence adoption:
•Online-offline identity interactions affect personal adoption
•Online norms help community members identify when it is ‘safe’ to
adopt
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

16. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
In sum.
•There are complexities of online relationships that have an effect on
influence (see also Dunbar)
•Perceptions of attitudes are generally incorrect (see also Wojcieszak,
2008)
•Identity is important in choosing your friends, and in choosing your
behaviours
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

17. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
A few more Big Ideas about the Web
•Celebrity •Disinformation
•The Cult of Me •Education
•Sex, Love •Knowledge
•Workplace •Trust
•Identity •Diffusion
•Persuasion •Nationalism
•Influence •Community
•Ethics •Value
•New territories •Social Change
•Stereotyping •Cyberbalkanization
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

18. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Questions we could have asked
•To what extent do recommendation engines (e.g., Amazon) encourage
cultural homogeneity and serendipity?
•How might the Web contribute to the development of extremism
because of confirmation biases and pluralistic ignorance?
•What does the notion of having 700 ‘friends’ on a social media site
mean for account holders?
•What are the real social, political, economic and psychological long-
term effects of the new Web in new territories?
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010

19. Studying Social Influence on the World Wide Web
Thank you.
Aleks@alekskrotoski.com
Department of Informatics Systems and Computing, Brunel University 3 March 2010