Social influence and behavioral contagion experiment with bots on Reddit (arxiv.org)

A recent experiment conducted on Reddit explored the influence of both human users and bots on online behavior, delving into the impact of social rewards and behavior contagion. Researchers employed bot accounts to award users for various rationales, such as logical arguments or emotional sensitivity, to assess how these awards would affect users' subsequent activity on the platform. Surprisingly, the results showed that such awards did not boost user engagement and, in cases where the award was framed as a lottery win, could even diminish activity. However, the findings indicated that awards did foster direct communication among users. This research is significant for the AI/ML community as it highlights the limitations of simplistic behavioral manipulation strategies, emphasizing that online users may be more resistant to straightforward incentives from bots. The study calls attention to the importance of ethical practices, suggesting that transparent labeling of automated agents is crucial for responsible platform governance. This insight is vital as AI technology continues to permeate social networks, underscoring the need for more sophisticated approaches to influence while safeguarding user engagement and trust.