The dynamics of attention in digital ecosystems
With more than half of the population of earth now using social media, it has become a critical tool for individuals to gain information about the world around them and to connect with others, and for researchers to build a broad understanding of human behav- ior. However, myopic design patterns of...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Published: |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2023
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152002 |
| _version_ | 1811084844297355264 |
|---|---|
| author | Epstein, Ziv |
| author2 | Pentland, Alex "Sandy" |
| author_facet | Pentland, Alex "Sandy" Epstein, Ziv |
| author_sort | Epstein, Ziv |
| collection | MIT |
| description | With more than half of the population of earth now using social media, it has become a critical tool for individuals to gain information about the world around them and to connect with others, and for researchers to build a broad understanding of human behav- ior. However, myopic design patterns of these platforms, as well as the broader attention economy, have enabled the proliferation of misinformation and undermined collective in- telligence. These situating factors motivate a guiding research question for the emerging field of platform design: how does attention operate in digital ecosystems, and how can we design platforms to mitigate misinformation and promote collective intelligence? This dissertation addresses key aspects of this question by arguing that attention operates in a two- stage process (“Try” and “Buy”) on social media. The Try phase (stage 1) involves initial exposure to content, and the Buy phase (stage 2) involves engagement with con- tent conditional on having been exposed to it in the first place. Due to the difficulties of measuring Stage 1 exposure in standard survey experiment settings, most research has focused only on psychological determinants and design interventions for stage 2, neglecting the crucial role attention plays online. To understand the attentional dynamics of stage 2, I will discuss studies on a scalable accuracy prompts that “moves the spotlight of attention” towards peoples’ existing but latent capacity for discerning truth from falsehood. To under- stand the attentional dynamics of stage 1, I will discuss how social influence can impact the content users are exposed on social media environments, via a large scale field experiment with AI-generated hybrid animals (“GANimals”). To directly measure attentional expo- sure to content in addition to engagement, I introduce a new research tool called Yourfeed. Yourfeed is a digital environment that mirrors the attentional context of social media, and tracks both dwell time and engagement for each piece of content. Together, these contribu- tions provide empirical evidence for how attention operates on social media, and highlights a suite of design interventions to promote high-quality interactions with these platforms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:58:12Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/152002 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:58:12Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1520022023-09-01T03:28:43Z The dynamics of attention in digital ecosystems Epstein, Ziv Pentland, Alex "Sandy" Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) With more than half of the population of earth now using social media, it has become a critical tool for individuals to gain information about the world around them and to connect with others, and for researchers to build a broad understanding of human behav- ior. However, myopic design patterns of these platforms, as well as the broader attention economy, have enabled the proliferation of misinformation and undermined collective in- telligence. These situating factors motivate a guiding research question for the emerging field of platform design: how does attention operate in digital ecosystems, and how can we design platforms to mitigate misinformation and promote collective intelligence? This dissertation addresses key aspects of this question by arguing that attention operates in a two- stage process (“Try” and “Buy”) on social media. The Try phase (stage 1) involves initial exposure to content, and the Buy phase (stage 2) involves engagement with con- tent conditional on having been exposed to it in the first place. Due to the difficulties of measuring Stage 1 exposure in standard survey experiment settings, most research has focused only on psychological determinants and design interventions for stage 2, neglecting the crucial role attention plays online. To understand the attentional dynamics of stage 2, I will discuss studies on a scalable accuracy prompts that “moves the spotlight of attention” towards peoples’ existing but latent capacity for discerning truth from falsehood. To under- stand the attentional dynamics of stage 1, I will discuss how social influence can impact the content users are exposed on social media environments, via a large scale field experiment with AI-generated hybrid animals (“GANimals”). To directly measure attentional expo- sure to content in addition to engagement, I introduce a new research tool called Yourfeed. Yourfeed is a digital environment that mirrors the attentional context of social media, and tracks both dwell time and engagement for each piece of content. Together, these contribu- tions provide empirical evidence for how attention operates on social media, and highlights a suite of design interventions to promote high-quality interactions with these platforms. Ph.D. 2023-08-30T15:58:35Z 2023-08-30T15:58:35Z 2023-06 2023-08-16T20:34:08.544Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152002 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Epstein, Ziv The dynamics of attention in digital ecosystems |
| title | The dynamics of attention in digital ecosystems |
| title_full | The dynamics of attention in digital ecosystems |
| title_fullStr | The dynamics of attention in digital ecosystems |
| title_full_unstemmed | The dynamics of attention in digital ecosystems |
| title_short | The dynamics of attention in digital ecosystems |
| title_sort | dynamics of attention in digital ecosystems |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152002 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT epsteinziv thedynamicsofattentionindigitalecosystems AT epsteinziv dynamicsofattentionindigitalecosystems |