Project Lead / Student Investigator: Alyssa Smith & Erika Melder
Principal Investigator: Dr. Michael Ann DeVito
Co-Investigator: Dr. Ada Lerner
Background
Generally speaking, we are interested in how users become socialized into an identity via embeddedness in a community on a broadcast social media platform. Socialization is the first step in social movement mobilization, and it is also how people come to understand themselves as part of a larger whole – an identity, a movement, or a political coalition, perhaps.
Broadcast social media platforms are platforms where users can post content that is visible, and often able to be amplified to, potentially millions of other users. For example, the video sharing mobile platform TikTok, which is extremely popular worldwide, allows users to follow creators, remix content, and discover new creators. Viral posts on TikTok can easily boast millions of views, bringing creators income, fame, and scrutiny. One feature of TikTok is its algorithm, which curates users’ feeds by recommending content they are likely to engage with. The algorithm is not transparent, so governing or predicting viral spread is difficult to impossible.
Marginalized users, such as transfeminine people, can find empowerment and community on TikTok, but the fluidity of audience on the platform, coupled with algorithmic enforcement of “community standards,” means that visibility on TikTok can be a double-edged sword. Belonging in an online community can be a valuable source of knowledge and support. Learning what it means to be (for example) a gender-diverse lesbian in an online community context provides validation and opportunities to share one’s story.
However, balancing community belonging with one’s online safety is difficult; even intra-community discussions on identity can turn sour and result in traumatic levels of conflict. These discussions can be especially toxic due to context collapse phenomena that lead to pile-ons, vilification, and other harms. We want to understand how conflict and support are intertwined within and between communities, especially those that coalesce around a shared identity.
Project Description
We are interested in learning more about how being embedded in the circles you occupy on broadcast social media platforms affects how you understand your identity. In cases of disagreements about identity, whether they happen within a particular circle or between different circles on a platform, we’d like to better understand how the people you are close to shape your experiences of conflict. Additionally, we’re trying to figure out how platforms affect how people experience conflict and find community. We want to use what we learn from these interviews to create user-informed design guidance for social media platforms.
Research Questions
- How does being embedded in a particular circle on broadcast social media affect how users make sense of their identities?
- How do users’ direct connections on broadcast social media affect how they experience conflict, whether intra-community or inter-community?
- How do platforms affect how people experience conflict and find community?
Expected Outcomes
This project’s goal is to develop user-informed design guidance for social media platforms.
How to Participate
We will be recruiting participants for interviews in late September! Participants will receive a $30 gift card fot their time. To participate, you must be:
- 18+ years old
- An active TikTok user
- Able to conduct an interview in English
- Located in the US, Canada, the UK, or the European Economic Area
- Individuals outside these regions may still be able to conduct an interview with us. Please let the researchers know and we will do our best to work with you.
Recruitment for this study is not yet open. To express interest and be notified about the study when it opens, please email smith.alyss@northeastern.edu.