We don't need no stinkin' badges: examining the social role of badges in the Huffington Post

  • Authors:

  • Julie Jones;Nathan Altadonna

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA;University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

News sites commonly allow users to post comments under each article, but, until recently, did little more than allow these social spaces on their sites. The Huffington Post took a pro-active stance when they introduced badges that award users for the frequency of their posting behaviors. Both social role and network theories posit that groups create their own normative structures when left to grow organically. However, badges may be symbolic of hierarchical control since they are defined, determined, and awarded by the organization rather than from the group itself. This study is a first step in examining the relationship between badges and group behavior within threads. As active members of the group, badge owners may be serving the role of discussion catalysts [1]. If so, then threads started by badge owners should be longer than for non-badge owners. Preferential attachment posits that highly connected users are "richer" in the social network [2]. Thus, threads started by badge owners may draw in more badge owners to the discussion. If badges have no influence on thread characteristics, then what does? Findings suggest that badges at the thread start do not generate longer threads but rather the type of news story does. Furthermore, some of the most popular commenters were not badge owners despite the overwhelming number of fans they had attracted. This study takes a first look at how parameters set by news organizations are accepted, or rejected, by online communities