Changing others' beliefs online: Online comments' persuasiveness

Lu Xiao, Taraneh Khazaei

Research output: Chapter in Book/Entry/PoemConference contribution

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Achieving social welfare and success is heavily reliant on our ability to persuade and influence others, yet this capacity is known to be one of the most challenging social skills to develop and possess. With social networking websites becoming a crucial platform for routine social activities, gaining insight into the strategies and mechanisms behind online persuasion is of great interest and value to a variety of disciplines. Hence, in this study, we aim to study written comments in online deliberations and understand what makes people change their beliefs. We explore different dimensions of the language, the order of the comments, as well as the attributes of the participating users and their relation to the persuasion process. In addition, we investigate the factors that persuaded users (the ones who have already changed their beliefs) perceived to be the reasons that led to their opinion change. We link our findings to earlier research on persuasion and belief change in traditional forms, hoping to uncover when and how they apply to online persuasion.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication10th International Conference on Social Media and Society
Subtitle of host publicationRethinking Privacy and Trust, SMSociety 2019
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages92-101
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781450366519
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 19 2019
Event10th International Conference on Social Media and Society: Rethinking Privacy and Trust, SMSociety 2019 - Toronto, Canada
Duration: Jul 19 2019Jul 21 2019

Publication series

NameACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

Conference10th International Conference on Social Media and Society: Rethinking Privacy and Trust, SMSociety 2019
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityToronto
Period7/19/197/21/19

Keywords

  • Language use analysis
  • Online persuasion
  • Reddit

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Computer Networks and Communications

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