social science research that powers Upworthy

1. WHY DO PEOPLE SHARE?
Hong Qu
February 3, 2012
Upriser team retreat
Thursday, February 2, 2012

2. Topics
Psychology theory
Academic and industry research
Content pattern recognition
Next steps for Product and UX
Thursday, February 2, 2012

3. Socio-technical system
Actors
Activities
Goals (objective)
Scenarios
Context (in situ)
Behavior norms
Activity Theory in Wikipedia
Thursday, February 2, 2012

4. Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Thursday, February 2, 2012

5. What do people share?
Thursday, February 2, 2012

6. What do people share?
News
Emotional state or mood
Photos
Family
Opinions
Possessions
Location
Thursday, February 2, 2012

7. What do people share?
News
Inspiration
Emotional state or mood
Professional expertise
Photos
Affirmation
Family
Learned something new
Opinions
Funny
Possessions
Activity
Location
Games
Thursday, February 2, 2012

8. Thursday, February 2, 2012

9. What motivates sharing?
to bring valuable and entertaining content to others
to define ourselves to others
to keep in touch with weak ties we don’t see
to grow and nourish relationships
to evangelize causes or brands
to get people to organize to affect an outcome
Thursday, February 2, 2012

10. Sharing feedback loop
Ambient telepresence (feeling of being near using technology)
Recipient becomes sender becomes recipient
Reciprocate
Light-weight interactions (like, comment)
Positive reinforcement
Thursday, February 2, 2012

11. Active vs Passive Sharing
Foursquare
Instagram
Twitter
Spotify
Washington Post Social Reader
Facebook games
Thursday, February 2, 2012

12. Sense of Agency and Urgency
Affect outcome (my vote counts)
Getting more people to vote with me counts even more
Control the message
Uplifting impact on recipient’s mood
Must have a sense of urgency
Thursday, February 2, 2012

13. Why people don’t share
Thursday, February 2, 2012

14. Why people don’t share
Privacy
Unknown audience
Exposing yourself to
judgement
Don’t feel a sense of control
Construction different
identities for different groups
of friends
Thursday, February 2, 2012

15. Why people don’t share
Privacy
Unknown audience
Exposing yourself to
judgement
Don’t feel a sense of control
Construction different
identities for different groups
of friends
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Like to consume guilty
pleasures, but don’t want
anyone to know
Self censoring
Socially awkwardness to
bring up controversial issues
Cannot unshare
Easy to copy and forward

16. Research on emotion valence
Will You Be E-Mailing This Column? It’s Awesome
People preferred e-mailing articles with positive rather than negative themes, and they liked to send
long articles on intellectually challenging topics.
More emotional stories were more likely to be e-mailed
emotion of self-transcendence, a feeling of admiration and elevation in the face of something greater
than the self.
Sharing recipes or financial tips or medical advice makes sense according to classic economic utility
theory: I give you something of practical value in the hope that you’ll someday return the favor. There
can also be self-interested reasons for sharing surprising articles: I get to show off how well informed I
am by sending news that will shock you.
“Emotion in general leads to transmission, and awe is quite a strong emotion,” he said. “If I’ve
just read this story that changes the way I understand the world and myself, I want to talk to others
about what it means. I want to proselytize and share the feeling of awe. If you read the article and
feel the same emotion, it will bring us closer together.”
Thursday, February 2, 2012

17. Emotional valence
Viral Content: Why We Share Some Things and Not Others
Thursday, February 2, 2012

18. References
Activity Theory
The Psychology of Sharing - NY Times Research
What Makes online Content Viral
Designing with Psychology in Mind
Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
Thursday, February 2, 2012