PrivacySubtle visual cues in online forums nudge users to reveal more than they would like
Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but icons may be even more powerful in nudging people to disclose more information online, according to an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers. In a study, researchers found that people using an online sexual health forum featuring computer graphics, called icons, that implied a sense of crowd size and connectivity, revealed more sensitive information than visitors to a site without those visual cues.
Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but icons may be even more powerful in nudging people to disclose more information online, according to an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers.
In a study, researchers found that people using an online sexual health forum featuring computer graphics, called icons, that implied a sense of crowd size and connectivity, revealed more sensitive information than visitors to a site without those visual cues, said S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory. Pictures meant to convey a sense of community on the web forum did not significantly affect the user’s disclosure, he added.
The subtle power of these cues could both help people build stronger online communities, as well as possibly lure them into revealing personal information, according to the researchers.
“This shows that little changes can mean a lot and it could help sites, such as online health forums, stay alive and help support their users,” said Sundar. “If people don’t reveal information in an online forum, the vitality of that forum decreases because not enough people are sharing details that make the forum worthwhile. On the other hand, if spam sites use these cues, they may be able to get more people to reveal sensitive information about their personal life, and that would be a bad thing.”
PSU says that the researchers used a dynamic graphic representation of people standing in a crowd to convey crowd size. The size of the crowd suggested by the icon changed randomly for participants so that they were not merely jumping on the bandwagon of a large crowd, according to the researchers. The connectivity icon showed a network map with one circle labeled “You” to suggest the participant’s place in the network. This icon also changed randomly.
The researchers, who report their findings last month at the Association for Computing Machinery’s annual Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing in Jersey City, New Jersey, tested the icons on a sexual health forum, because while people tend to be reluctant to share information about their sexual behavior, disclosure is important to help them access health information, as well as help them make better health decisions.
