Effects of communication medium on interpersonal perceptions
GROUP '01 Proceedings of the 2001 International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work
Is seeing believing?: how recommender system interfaces affect users' opinions
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Conformity on the Internet - The role of task difficulty and gender differences
Computers in Human Behavior
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In recent social media internet applications, many activities consist of voting, ranking, commenting and sharing. People using these applications can experience the social presence and influences of others, just as in real life. The difference is, however, that fewer communication channels are available in these online communication mediums. In this pilot study, we investigated to which degree these altered communication mediums affect people's social conformity behavior. Based on a classic normative social conformity paradigm by Asch [1], we developed an online quiz. Two versions were created: a version where users see other players represented with only a picture, and a version with a live video stream. We studied the social conformity in these two online situations regarding three information types: visual perception, factual information and personal opinions. Results showed that participants answering factual questions in the live video variant, offering more social cues than the photo variant, followed the group more in giving incorrect answers. Furthermore, participants in both variants agreed with group opinions.