This NY Times article debriefs an interesting study on likes / dislikes on the internet.
It confirms suspicions I saw many people vocalizing in the debate over whether B.net should show the number of likes on a post.
Check out the article for exact numbers, and the method used for this five month long study. Basically, when there is a visible like system, "liking" a post preemptively can skew the likes that post will get overall by 25-35% regardless of content.
Very glad we did not go that rout here on B.NEXT.
Dont forget to like! ;-)
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[quote]Basically, when there is a visible like system, "liking" a post preemptively can skew the likes that post will get overall by 25-35% regardless of content.[/quote] Does it really though? Seeing a like system won't affect my actual opinion of a post, but it might just [b]remind[/b] me to like a post that I like. Similar to many other feedback systems, people generally only bother to leave feedback when the feedback is negative. I know this is true of me as we'll. I might have the opinion of liking many posts, but don't bother to click the button. On the other hand, if I dislike a post, I'll definitely dislike it. If making the totals visible increases participation, I think that's a good thing. They'd have to show that it somehow sways opinions for it to be bad. [spoiler]I didn't read the article. I'm on an airplane, and it wouldn't load. Any further details would be great.[/spoiler]