research-article

FollowBias: Supporting Behavior Change toward Gender Equality by Networked Gatekeepers on Social Media

Authors:

J. Nathan Matias,

Sarah Szalavitz,

Ethan ZuckermanAuthors Info & Claims

CSCW '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

Pages 1082 - 1095

https://doi.org/10.1145/2998181.2998287

Published: 25 February 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Networked gatekeepers on social media increasingly influence which people and groups receive media attention. Many unknowingly direct much greater attention to men than to women. Can technologies support these gatekeepers to follow their own values of equality? Theories of value consistency suggest that confronting people with inconsistencies between values and behavior can prompt behavior change. In this paper, we introduce FollowBias, a novel system that offers feedback on the percentage of women that users follow onTwitter. We conduct field deployments of FollowBias with 61 and 78 participants, exploring differences between their values and behavior, their explanations of those differences, and their changes in behavior. In the first, FollowBias users had a 45 percentage point greater chance of increasing the percentage of women followed over one week. In the second, we fail to find an effect. We also offer findings on political and ethical trade-offs in designing systems for behavior change toward equality.

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Bustamante-Mora ADiéguez-Rebolledo MHormazábal YValdés YVidal E(2024)Policies, Projects, and Initiatives for Sustainable Higher Education with Gender Equity: Literature Review and Case Study—Universidad de La FronteraSustainability10.3390/su1612503816:12(5038)Online publication date: 13-Jun-2024
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Index Terms

FollowBias: Supporting Behavior Change toward Gender Equality by Networked Gatekeepers on Social Media
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing

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CSCW '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

February 2017

2556 pages

ISBN:9781450343350

DOI:10.1145/2998181

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su16125038
Chordia IBaltaxe-Admony LBoone ASheehan ADombrowski LLe Dantec CRingland KSmith A(2024)Social Justice in HCI: A Systematic Literature ReviewProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642704(1-33)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642704
Lockhart JKing MMunsch C(2023)Name-based demographic inference and the unequal distribution of misrecognitionNature Human Behaviour10.1038/s41562-023-01587-97:7(1084-1095)Online publication date: 17-Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01587-9
Nunes Vilaza GDoherty KMcCashin DCoyle DBardram JBarry M(2022)A Scoping Review of Ethics Across SIGCHIProceedings of the 2022 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3532106.3533511(137-154)Online publication date: 13-Jun-2022
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Li DLi YNguyen QSiebeneck L(2020)A Study on the GIS Professional (GISP) Certification Program in the U.S.ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information10.3390/ijgi90905239:9(523)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2020
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Usher NHolcomb JLittman J(2018)Twitter Makes It Worse: Political Journalists, Gendered Echo Chambers, and the Amplification of Gender BiasThe International Journal of Press/Politics10.1177/194016121878125423:3(324-344)Online publication date: 24-Jun-2018
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