How ‘Social’ are Social News Sites?
Exploring the Motivations for Using Reddit.com
Toine Bogers1,2 & Rasmus Nordenhoff Wernersen3
1 Aalborg
University Copenhagen
2
Royal School of Library & Information Science, University of Copenhagen
3
The Administrative Library, Copenhagen
CIS brown bag lunch talk
September 12, 2014
Bibliotek.dk
Social news site, where people submit, discuss, and vote for stories
Bibliotek.dk
Active discussions on nearly any topic imaginable
Social news site
Bibliotek.dk
Subreddits are communities focused on a specific topic
Bibliotek.dk
Requesting favors from other redditors (= Reddit users)
Bibliotek.dk
Celebrities & politicians answer questions on Ask Me Anything
Bibliotek.dk
Explaining complex issues like one would to a five-year-old
Outline
• Introduction
• Related work
• Methodology
- Framework of motivational factors
- Survey creation & deployment
• Results
• Discussion & conclusions
8
Introduction
• Social news sites allow users to submit, discuss, and vote on
news stories and websites
- Popular alternative to online newspapers →
was 68th most
popular website in the world in January 2014 according to Alexa
• But what motivates users to participate on social news sites?
- Is it the power to help determine which stories make it to the front page?
- Or the possibility to contribute news stories?
- Or perhaps the social aspect of connecting and discussing with like-minded
users?
9
Contributions of this work
1. Comprehensive literature review of motivations for online user
participation
2. Organization of motivational factors into coherent framework
3. Empirical validation of framework through survey deployed on
Reddit.com
10
Related work
• Motivations for participating on social news sites
- Lerman (2007) and Halavais (2009) analyzed posting dynamics on Digg.com
- Found that positive feedback and recognition was important for continued
participation; weak ties were more valuable for this than friendship relations
• Other relevant fields of study
- Social media (e.g., social networks like Facebook)
- Online communities (e.g., mailing lists)
- Online collaboration (e.g., Wikipedia)
- Social psychology & sociology (e.g., Milgram)
- Behavioral economics (e.g., Maslow)
11
Motivational framework
• We constructed our motivation framework as follows
- Collected a set of 55 snippets and quotes from the reviewed literature
- Paired card-sorting to group snippets into 26 motivational factors
- Further grouping identified seven mid-level categories
- Final grouping produced four top-level categories
‣ Personal (P)
‣ Social (S)
‣ Informational (I)
‣ Website characteristics (W)
12
Motivational framework
Social
Personal
Self-promotion
& reputation
Recreation
Friendship
Community
Consumption
Exchange
Self-promotion
Curiosity
Social filtering
Trust
Information
consumption
Information
quantity
P.1
Social exchange
P.2
Reputation
P.6
Entertainment
P.7
Procrastination
P.3
Status
P.4
P.8
S.1
Presence of
friends
Following
friends
Making new
friends
S.5
Socializing
S.2
S.6
Group identity
S.3
S.7
Group size
S.4
Website
characteristics
Informational
Information
quality
I.1
Functionality
I.4
Debating
I.2
Shopping
I.3
W.1
Chatting
I.5
Information
sharing
W.2
Credibility
I.6
W.3
Usability
S.8
W.4
Personal growth
P.5
13
Survey development
• Empirical validation of motivation framework through a survey
• Survey consisted of six parts
- Activity level
‣ Reddit user profile, active voting/commenting/posting behavior?
- Four parts, corresponding to each of the four top-level categories
‣ Questions corresponding to each of the 26 factors
‣ Open comment fields were included after each of these five parts
- Demographics
‣ Gender, age, country of origin
14
Survey deployment
• Survey deployed on Reddit.com
- Most popular social news site → 3.4 billion page views in August 2012
• Request for survey participation posted to relevant subreddits
- Very active removal of off-topic posts from subreddits
- Posted to five subreddits with ~120,000 subscribers
‣ Assistance, Favors, SampleSize, Self, and SocialMedia
- 282 responses in a two-week period
‣ 97% of respondents answered within 5 days
15
Results: Demographics
Country of origin!
Australia!
2%!
UK!
6%!
Other!
15%!
Canada!
12%!
US!
65%!
> 45 yrs!
3%!
yrs
35-44 yrs!
6%
6%!
25-34 yrs!
32%!
Age!
< 24 yrs!
59%!
N = 279
• Distribution very similar to 2011 survey of 32,756 Reddit users
16
Results: Activity levels
Posting!
Commenting!
Lurker!
8%!
Lurker! Active!
15%! 12%!
Casual!
73%!
Voting!
Lurker!
14%!
Active!
37%!
Casual!
49%!
Casual!
22%!
Active!
70%!
N = 282
• Based on work by Nonnecke & Preece (2000), Reddit users in our
survey are more active than expected → still good generalizabilty
17
Functionality (W.1)!
Debating (P.3)!
(I.5)!
Reputation
Debating (P.3)!
(I.5)!
Reputation
Information
consumption
(I.1)!
Presence
of friends (S.2)!
Social exchange (P.2)!
Information
consumption
(I.1)!
Presence
of friends (S.2)!
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Credibility (W.3)!
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Results: Framework
Group identity validation
(S.7)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status (P.4)!
Socializing (S.6)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status (P.4)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
Self-promotion (P.1)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
Group identity (S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!(P.7)!
Neutral!
Entertainment
Socializing (S.6)!
Disagree!
Curiosity (P.6)!
Self-promotion
(P.1)! Information
Information quantity
(I.4)!
Trust (S.5)!
(I.6)!
Self-promotion (P.1)!
Group size (S.8)!
Trust (S.5)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
Usability
Group
size (W.4)!
(S.8)!
Information consumption
(I.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Presence
Reputation (P.3)!
of friends (S.2)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
new friends (S.4)!
Making new friends (S.4)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Status (P.4)!
Credibility
Status (W.3)!
(P.4)!
Status (P.4)!
Group identity
Following
friends (S.7)!
(S.3)!
Following friends (S.3)!
10! 20! 30! 40!friends
50! 60! 70! (S.3)!
80! 90! 100!
Socializing (S.6)! 0! Following
Agree!
Neutral!
Disagree!
Trust (S.5)! Strongly agree!
Information sharing
(I.6)!
(I.6)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Self-promotion (P.1)!
Strongly disagree!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
MakingFunctionality
new friends (W.1)!
(S.4)! Making
Strongly agree!
Disagree!
Group size (S.8)!
Reputation (P.3)!
(I.5)!
SocialDebating
filtering (S.1)!
Information
quality (P.5)!
(I.2)!
Personal growth
sharing
Strongly agree!
Agree!(S.6)!
Neutral!
Socializing
Information sharing
Procrastination
Information
sharing (P.8)!
(I.6)!
(I.3)!
Presence Shopping
of friends (S.2)!
Trust
(S.5)!
Strongly disagree!
Group identity (S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly disagree!
Agree!
0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Disagree!
0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Neutral!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
18
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Functionality (W.1)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Social exchange (P.2)!
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status
(P.4)!
Results:
Strong
motivating
factors
Group identity (S.7)!
Credibility (W.3)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
Socializing
Group
identity (S.6)!
(S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Entertainment
(P.7)!
Socializing (S.6)!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Top five factors all
have a median score
of 5 (‘Strongly agree’)
Curiosity
(P.6)!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Trust (S.5)!
Information
quantity
(I.4)!
Trust (I.6)!
(S.5)!
Information
sharing
Procrastination
(P.8)!
Information
(I.6)!
Groupsharing
size (S.8)!
Usability
Group
size (W.4)!
(S.8)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
(I.5)!
SocialDebating
filtering (S.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Information consumption
(I.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
(I.3)!
Presence Shopping
of friends (S.2)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Information
quality (P.5)!
(I.2)!
Personal growth
Making
new
friends (S.4)!
MakingFunctionality
new friends (W.1)!
(S.4)!
SocialChatting
exchange
(P.2)!
Chatting(W.2)!
(W.2)!
Status
Credibility
(W.3)!
Status (P.4)!
(P.4)!
Group
identity
(S.7)!
Following
friends (S.3)!
(S.3)!
Following
friends
10! 20!
20! 30!
30! 40!
100!
Socializing (S.6)!0!0! 10!
40! 50!
50! 60!
60!70!
70!80!80!90!90!
100!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Disagree!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
19
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Functionality (W.1)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Social exchange (P.2)!
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status
(P.4)!
Results:
Strong
motivating
factors
Group identity (S.7)!
Credibility (W.3)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
Socializing
Group
identity (S.6)!
(S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Entertainment
(P.7)!
Socializing (S.6)!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
“It cures my boredom.”
Curiosity
(P.6)!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Trust (S.5)!
Information
quantity
(I.4)!
Trust (I.6)!
(S.5)!
Information
sharing
“I use Reddit to
procrastinate.”
Procrastination
(P.8)!
Information
(I.6)!
Groupsharing
size (S.8)!
Usability
Group
size (W.4)!
(S.8)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
(I.5)!
SocialDebating
filtering (S.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
“I use reddit because it is
Information consumption
(I.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
(I.3)!
Presence Shopping
of friends (S.2)!
fun.”
Personal growth (P.5)!
Information
quality (P.5)!
(I.2)!
Personal growth
Making
new
friends (S.4)!
MakingFunctionality
new friends (W.1)!
(S.4)!
't really use it
n
o
d
I
“
SocialChatting
exchange
(P.2)!
Chatting(W.2)!
(W.2)!
for a social factor. It's
Status
Credibility
(W.3)!
Status (P.4)!
(P.4)!
more entertainment.”
Group
identity
(S.7)!
Following
friends (S.3)!
(S.3)!
Following
friends
“Reddit seems to trigger in my
brain the release of positive
chemicals. I seem to use it much
like a smoker would a cigarette.”
10! 20!
20! 30!
30! 40!
100!
Socializing (S.6)!0!0! 10!
40! 50!
50! 60!
60!70!
70!80!80!90!90!
100!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Disagree!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
20
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Functionality (W.1)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Social exchange (P.2)!
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status
(P.4)!
Results:
Strong
motivating
factors
Group identity (S.7)!
Credibility (W.3)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
Socializing
Group
identity (S.6)!
(S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Entertainment
(P.7)!
Socializing (S.6)!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
“I like how simple it is
for a noob like me to
use. Seriously, that’s an
accomplishment.”
Curiosity
(P.6)!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Trust (S.5)!
Information
quantity
(I.4)!
Trust (I.6)!
(S.5)!
Information
sharing
Procrastination
(P.8)!
Information
(I.6)!
Groupsharing
size (S.8)!
Usability
Group
size (W.4)!
(S.8)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
(I.5)!
SocialDebating
filtering (S.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Information consumption
(I.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
(I.3)!
Presence Shopping
of friends (S.2)!
“I enjoy the wide range of content,
it keeps me entertained for much
longer than a site dedicated to a
single type of content.”
Personal growth (P.5)!
Information
quality (P.5)!
(I.2)!
Personal growth
Making
new
friends (S.4)!
MakingFunctionality
new friends (W.1)!
(S.4)!
SocialChatting
exchange
(P.2)!
Chatting(W.2)!
(W.2)!
Status
Credibility
(W.3)!
Status (P.4)!
(P.4)!
Group
identity
(S.7)!
Following
friends (S.3)!
(S.3)!
Following
friends
10! 20!
20! 30!
30! 40!
100!
Socializing (S.6)!0!0! 10!
40! 50!
50! 60!
60!70!
70!80!80!90!90!
100!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Disagree!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
21
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Functionality (W.1)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Social exchange (P.2)!
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status
(P.4)!
Results:
Strong
motivating
factors
Group identity (S.7)!
Credibility (W.3)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
Socializing
Group
identity (S.6)!
(S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Entertainment
(P.7)!
Socializing (S.6)!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Curiosity
(P.6)!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Trust (S.5)!
Information
quantity
(I.4)!
Trust (I.6)!
(S.5)!
Information
sharing
Procrastination
(P.8)!
Information
(I.6)!
Groupsharing
size (S.8)!
Usability
Group
size (W.4)!
(S.8)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
(I.5)!
SocialDebating
filtering (S.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Information consumption
(I.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
Next seven factors
have a median
score of 4 (‘Agree’)
(I.3)!
Presence Shopping
of friends (S.2)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Information
quality (P.5)!
(I.2)!
Personal growth
Making
new
friends (S.4)!
MakingFunctionality
new friends (W.1)!
(S.4)!
SocialChatting
exchange
(P.2)!
Chatting(W.2)!
(W.2)!
Status
Credibility
(W.3)!
Status (P.4)!
(P.4)!
Group
identity
(S.7)!
Following
friends (S.3)!
(S.3)!
Following
friends
10! 20!
20! 30!
30! 40!
100!
Socializing (S.6)!0!0! 10!
40! 50!
50! 60!
60!70!
70!80!80!90!90!
100!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Disagree!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
22
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Functionality (W.1)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
“With 19 million users (I think)
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
there's almost no news story
Credibility (W.3)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status
(P.4)!
Results:
Strong
motivating
factors
that doesn't have an eyewitness
Group identity
(S.7)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
nce
ere
diff
The
dit.
red
on
Socializing
Group
identity (S.6)!
(S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
a
“I
at
use
wh
it
g
to
get
din
the
rea
wor
en
ld
we
new
bet
s.”
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Entertainment
(P.7)!
Socializing
(S.6)!
reporter who showed up after
Curiosity
(P.6)!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Trust (S.5)!
the fact wrote and somebody
Information
quantity
(I.4)!
Trust (I.6)!
(S.5)!
Information
sharing
er.”
p
a
p
s
w
e
n
y
m
is
it
d
d
who can honestly say, ‘I was
e
R
“
Procrastination
(P.8)!
Information
(I.6)!
Groupsharing
size (S.8)!
there...’ is very powerful.”
Social exchange (P.2)!
Usability
Group
size (W.4)!
(S.8)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
(I.5)!
SocialDebating
filtering (S.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
“I use Reddit to follow
Presence of friends (S.2)!
niche news- news about
(I.3)!
Presence Shopping
of friends (S.2)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
things that are important
Information
quality (P.5)!
(I.2)!
Personal growth
to me but aren't
Making
new
friends (S.4)!
MakingFunctionality
new friends (W.1)!
(S.4)!
important enough to a
SocialChatting
exchange
(P.2)!
Chatting(W.2)!
(W.2)!
wide enough audience
Status
Credibility
(W.3)!
Status (P.4)!
(P.4)!
for the stories to end up
Group
identity
(S.7)!
Following
friends
(S.3)!
Following friends (S.3)!
in mainstream channels.”
10! 20!
20! 30!
30! 40!
50!
60!
70!
80!
90!
100!
Socializing (S.6)!0!0! 10!
40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Information consumption
(I.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Disagree!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
23
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Functionality (W.1)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Social exchange (P.2)!
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status
(P.4)!
Results:
Strong
motivating
factors
Group identity (S.7)!
Credibility (W.3)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
Socializing
Group
identity (S.6)!
(S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Entertainment
(P.7)!
Socializing (S.6)!
Disagree!
Curiosity
(P.6)!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Trust (S.5)!
Information
quantity
(I.4)!
Trust (I.6)!
(S.5)!
Information
sharing
Procrastination
(P.8)!
Information
(I.6)!
Groupsharing
size (S.8)!
e
th
y
ll
a
c
ifi
c
e
p
s
,
n
o
ti
a
“The customiz
r
e
ll
a
m
s
d
n
a
s
it
d
d
e
r
b
idea of su
, is
s
ic
p
to
c
ifi
c
e
p
s
t
u
o
b
a
s
communitie
.”
it
d
d
e
R
e
s
u
I
y
h
w
n
o
s
a
the largest re
Strongly disagree!
Usability
Group
size (W.4)!
(S.8)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
(I.5)!
SocialDebating
filtering (S.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Information consumption
(I.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
“At
Presence of friends (S.2)!
least it's not Fox News.”
(I.3)!
Presence Shopping
of friends (S.2)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Information
quality (P.5)!
(I.2)!
Personal growth
Making
new
friends (S.4)!
MakingFunctionality
new friends (W.1)!
(S.4)!
SocialChatting
exchange
(P.2)!
Chatting(W.2)!
(W.2)!
Status
Credibility
(W.3)!
Status (P.4)!
(P.4)!
Group
identity
(S.7)!
Following
friends (S.3)!
(S.3)!
Following
friends
“I am very glad I can
customize it so that
subreddits I find very
distasteful and offensive
never show up and are
in no way a part of my
online experience.”
10! 20!
20! 30!
30! 40!
100!
Socializing (S.6)!0!0! 10!
40! 50!
50! 60!
60!70!
70!80!80!90!90!
100!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Disagree!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
24
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Functionality (W.1)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Social exchange (P.2)!
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Results:
Weak
motivating
factors
Group identity (S.7)!
Credibility (W.3)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status (P.4)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
Socializing
Group
identity (S.6)!
(S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Socializing
(S.6)!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Trust (S.5)!
Trust (I.6)!
(S.5)!
Information sharing
Information sharing
(I.6)!
Group size (S.8)!
Group size (S.8)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Reputation (P.3)!
These factors have a
median score of 2 or
lower (‘Disagree’ or
‘Strongly disagree’)
Presence of friends (S.2)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Making
new
friends
Making
new
friends (S.4)!
(S.4)!
Chatting
Chatting(W.2)!
(W.2)!
Status
Status (P.4)!
(P.4)!
Following
friends (S.3)!
(S.3)!
Following
friends
10! 20!
20! 30!
30! 40!
100!
0!0! 10!
40! 50!
50! 60!
60!70!
70!80!80!90!90!
100!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Disagree!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
25
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Functionality (W.1)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Social exchange (P.2)!
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
“I use Reddit when I am
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status
(P.4)!
Results:
Weak
motivating
factors
ing about
k
in
th
g
in
id
o
v
a
Group Credibility
identity (S.7)!
Following friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
s which I know need
g
in
th
Socializing
Group
identity (S.6)!
(S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
ssing. It’s a terrible
re
d
d
a
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Socializing
(S.6)!
coping mechanism and I
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Trust (S.5)!
was a better person five
Trust (I.6)!
(S.5)!
Information sharing
years ago before I ever
Information sharing (I.6)!
Group size (S.8)!
knew it existed.”
Credibility (W.3)!
Group size (S.8)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
“I don't post comments that
often nor do I post my views
on certain subjects. I'm
afraid of being downvoted,
it makes me feel bad. I'm
also afraid of people being
rude or belittling me.”
Reputation (P.3)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Making
new
friends
Making
new
friends (S.4)!
(S.4)!
Chatting
Chatting(W.2)!
(W.2)!
Status
Status (P.4)!
(P.4)!
Following
friends (S.3)!
(S.3)!
Following
friends
10! 20!
20! 30!
30! 40!
100!
0!0! 10!
40! 50!
50! 60!
60!70!
70!80!80!90!90!
100!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Disagree!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
26
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Functionality (W.1)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Social exchange (P.2)!
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Results:
Weak
motivating
factors
Group identity (S.7)!
Credibility (W.3)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status (P.4)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
Socializing
Group
identity (S.6)!
(S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Socializing
(S.6)!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Trust (S.5)!
Trust (I.6)!
(S.5)!
Information sharing
Information sharing
(I.6)!
Group size (S.8)!
Group size (S.8)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Making
new
friends
Making
new
friends (S.4)!
(S.4)!
Chatting
Chatting(W.2)!
(W.2)!
Status
Status (P.4)!
(P.4)!
Following
friends (S.3)!
(S.3)!
Following
friends
10! 20!
20! 30!
30! 40!
100!
0!0! 10!
40! 50!
50! 60!
60!70!
70!80!80!90!90!
100!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Disagree!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
27
Shopping
(I.3)!
Personal
growth (P.5)!
Functionality (W.1)!
Information
quality (S.4)!
(I.2)!
Making
new friends
Social exchange (P.2)!
Functionality
(W.1)!
Chatting (W.2)!
Results:
Weak
motivating
factors
Group identity (S.7)!
Credibility (W.3)!
Social exchange
(P.2)!
Status (P.4)!
Credibility
Following
friends (W.3)!
(S.3)!
have any social
“Reddit fills holes that dmdyit. If
Strongly disagree!
ations for using Re
v
ti
mo
real-life friends can’t fill
thing my experience with
anbyec
ause they’re not ainl te
re
ction
st
ed
ra
te
in
ci
so
g
in
rd
a
g
re
it
d
d
e
R in all
the same things I am.”
has been negative.”
Socializing
Group
identity (S.6)!
(S.7)! 0! 10! 20! 30! 40! 50! 60! 70! 80! “
90!
don’t
I 100!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Socializing
(S.6)!
Disagree!
Self-promotion
(P.1)!
Trust (S.5)!
Trust (I.6)!
(S.5)!
Information sharing
Information sharing
(I.6)!
Group size (S.8)!
Group size (S.8)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
Social filtering (S.1)!
“Reddit is not welcoming, it
is
It
.
p
u
ro
g
a
e
k
li
l
e
fe
t
o
n
s
e
o
d
very judgmental and I rarely
feel comfortable.”
Reputation (P.3)!
Reputation (P.3)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
Presence of friends (S.2)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Personal growth (P.5)!
Making
new
friends
Making
new
friends (S.4)!
(S.4)!
Chatting
Chatting(W.2)!
(W.2)!
e
iv
ct
a
e
m
ca
e
b
s
d
n
ie
fr
y
m
If
“ Status
Status (P.4)!
(P.4)!
become
ld
“I like Reddit specifically
u
o
w
I
rs
o
it
d
d
e
R
Following
friends
(S.3)!
Following friends (S.3)!
e site.”
th
se
be100!
u
cause nobody I know uses it.”
less inclined 0!to
0! 10!
10! 20!
20! 30!
30! 40!
50!
60!
70!
80!
90!
40! 50! 60! 70! 80! 90! 100!
Strongly agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Strongly
agree!
Agree!
Neutral!
Disagree!
Disagree!
Strongly disagree!
Strongly disagree!
28
Discussion
• People use Reddit to be entertained!
- Recreational value combined with the customization possibilities and the
amount of information on Reddit are valued most by its users
• So how ‘social’ are social news sites? Answer: not very!
- Social motivators consistently valued as (relatively) unimportant
‣ Especially true for friendship-related factors
• Difference between online newspapers and social news sites due to
influence over reception and placement of news stories
- Massive effort put into all kinds of social features might be misguided...
29
Discussion
• Possible caveat
- Survey participants were more active than should be expected!
- Lurkers are most likely underrepresented in our survey
- However, social features require the most effort of all factors
‣ Lurkers are probably even less likely to be motivated by social factors!
• Future work
- Thorough content analysis of the comments collected
- Triangulation of our findings by crawling interaction data for 86
participants who allowed their Reddit activity to be crawled
30
Collaboration possibilities
• Reddit contains an enormous amount of information
- On any topic imaginable
‣ From World news & Politics to Teaching & HowTo to Ghostbusters & Socialist art
- Often with thriving community discussion
• My current Reddit crawler which could be used to
- Crawl entire discussions
- Crawl public personal history
• Come talk to me if working with this (large amount) of data sounds
interesting!
37
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
31