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Study: Online Social Influence Has the Strongest Effect On Voting Behavior

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-like-what-the-people-I-talk-to-like dept.

sciencehabit writes "Brace yourself for a tidal wave of Facebook campaigning before November's U.S. presidential election. A study of 61 million Facebook users finds that using online social networks to urge people to vote has a much stronger effect on their voting behavior than spamming them with information via television ads or phone calls."

13 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. For now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's only because a lot of people haven't yet become as adept at ignoring the adds on social media platforms as they already are on TV and print mediums. This noted effectiveness will wear off as more and more people get used to ignoring a new form of advertising.

  2. It's not just for now. by mosb1000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You're talking about ads, but your friend might recommend something to you, and if it's someone you know or trust you are a lot more likely to look at it. And that's something that's probably never going to change. Gossiping would go away before that would.

    1. Re:It's not just for now. by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hmm.....sounds to me like yet another reason not to join Facebook.....

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:It's not just for now. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      What it means is that more people are more likely to click buttons online and say they're gonna vote, then they're nowhere to be seen at the polls because they'd rather fuck off on Facebook all day.

      No, they checked that in the study. Here's a more complete version from the AP that covers this:

      Fowler and colleagues didn't just take the word of people who clicked the "I voted" button. They checked public voting records in 13 states for that election, and found about 4 percent of those who said they voted hadn't really cast ballots.

  3. Selection bias? by alostpacket · · Score: 5, Funny

    Also in the news, a study of H.P. Lovecraft fans showed Cthulhu has the most impact on voting behavior

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    1. Re:Selection bias? by VortexCortex · · Score: 5, Funny

      C'thulhu 2012
      Why vote for a lesser evil?

  4. Online Social Influence ... by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    .... is effective on the unwashed

    For those who are seasoned and thick-skinned, we have developed the habit of using our brain, instead of letting others to think for us
     

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    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:Online Social Influence ... by Havenwar · · Score: 4, Funny

      There is quite a simple analysis actually, based on the very simple and statistically true test:

      Did a politician claim to have an opinion?

      If yes: It was paid for.
      If no: Now accepting offers.

    2. Re:Online Social Influence ... by silentcoder · · Score: 4, Interesting

      >For those who are seasoned and thick-skinned, we have developed the habit of using our brain, instead of letting others to think for us

      Yeah but you guys aren't even in the target-group for any politicians anywhere.
      Politicians don't care about appealing to independent thinkers because even in a tight race there aren't enough of those around to make any real difference and trying to appeal to them means speaking intelligently which will alienate the entire REST of your voting base. You know, all those unwashed - they don't like politicians who are visibly smarter than themselves and they never vote for anything that can't fit on a bumper sticker.

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      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
  5. hmm... by wierd_w · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It could be that a facebook page doesn't interrupt you during dinner, or your favorite movie, or during sex.

    That it doesn't use a melodramatic voice actor to sound all serious about the $TotallyEvilShit that $OtherCandidate does, and basically conflate that not voting for $EndorsedCandidate is a vote for raping babies with wood rasps.

    Seriously. People are losing patience with the mud slinging. A facebook page can be ignored. It doesn't shove itself in your face. It doesn't scream. It doesn't rant. It doesn't turn the volume up 30 additional decibels to blast your brains out.

    Given the substantially fewer sets of clear and present BADs being injected, is it any wonder that people would react more favorably to them?

    Current TV ads are like the $PoliticalParty edit wars on Wikipedia for $CandidateHistory. Look, the ministry of truth bullshit with your truthiness gets old. Say your bit, the shut the fuck up already. If I want to know about your party or your candidate, let me do so on my own. Don't try to control my access to information. Don't try to poison that well. If you do, you expose yourself as dishonest shysters, and I will only want you to go away and stop bothering me.

    I suspect many other americans feel the same way.

    Grow the fuck up, grow a pair, own up, and let us make up our own damn minds.

  6. Re:and tomorrow by postglock · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's not even a very large effect. From TFA "People who received messages alerting them that their friends had voted were 0.39% more likely to vote than those who received messages with no social information". Get a sample group large enough (61 million users), and you'll find many things to be statistically significant.

  7. This just in by jxander · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Breaking news: Facebook users find Facebook to be the most effective means of influencing them.

    Film at 11

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  8. Re:The internet routes around damage. by readin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So, who's up for making a browser addon that automatically cross-references online political ads to various fact checking sites?

    But since ad-checking sites have their agenda too, we'd need another app to cross-reference the fact checking sites to fact checking site verfication sites...

    --
    I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.