I Liked Your Story — I Didn’t Read It
Users rate articles even if they haven’t read them, new research shows
See if this sounds familiar: You sit down at your computer ready to read a few stories on your favorite social media site. You start scrolling through your feed and come across an article with a catchy title on a subject that interests you. You read the first couple of paragraphs and think, “this writer must be a genius, because I agree with everything they’re saying!” You up-vote the article without reading the rest of it and move on to the next one.
I admit to being guilty of this and worse: I up-vote articles before I read them. I figure if the title intrigues me enough to click on the link, it deserves a high-five. I never thought providing such basic feedback on a story would change how I read it. I was wrong.
New research from The Ohio State University examines how voting (e.g. clapping or liking) online affects the reader’s engagement when it comes to controversial topics. The researchers found that voting reinforced the reader’s opinion even though they then spent less time reading the article or didn’t finish it at all. It turns out our opinions may get in the way of our ability to digest new information, and up-votes may be a poor indication of reader engagement.
