It can be difficult to sort through the plethora of content available online and on social media, and Kristina Lerman has discovered that content isn't king afterall. Lerman found that position bias (when content is recommended based on its placement at the top of a webpage, as opposed to its quality) accounts for the number of recommendations or shares that a piece of content, like a video, receives. She finds that a system like Twitter does a better job of overcoming this effect than a site like Reddit, because retweeting boosts shared content to the top of users' feeds, thus bringing better content to their attention.
Below is a sampling of recent media articles about Lerman's research.
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Which do you think gets more pageviews, sites with exaggerated titles like Upworthy or Buzzfeed, or an accurate title like this one? We know the answer. The reason is that smart sites interested in achieving an Internet critical mass don't think about content, they think about creating "irrational herding" behaviors. (View article) |
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In today’s Information Age, it’s easy get overwhelmed by online content. On YouTube alone, over 100 hours worth of video is uploaded every minute. Showcasing the most interesting content allows providers to convey a certain level of quality to its audiences and encourages users to stay on the website, consuming content and winning advertising dollars for its provider. However, this influx of information makes it difficult for both content providers and users to determine what is interesting and worth consuming. (View article) |
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In today's Information Age, it's easy get overwhelmed by online content. On YouTube alone, over 100 hours worth of video is uploaded every minute. Showcasing the most interesting content allows providers to convey a certain level of quality to its audiences and encourages users to stay on the website, consuming content and winning advertising dollars for its provider. However, this influx of information makes it difficult for both content providers and users to determine what is interesting and worth consuming. (View article) |
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Don't waste your time reading that highly recommended article ranked at the top of the webpage! A recent study finds that a more interesting one may be lurking at the bottom. In today's Information Age, it's easy get overwhelmed by online content. On YouTube alone, over 100 hours worth of video is uploaded every minute. (View article) |
