Corporations directing our attention online more than we realize

Date:
October 29, 2020
Source:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau
Summary:
It's still easy to think we're in control when browsing
the internet, but a new study argues much of that is 'an
illusion.' Corporations are 'nudging' us online more than we
realize, and often in hidden ways.

Researchers analyzed click-stream data on a million people over
one month of internet use to find common browsing sequences, then
connected that with site and platform ownership and partnerships,
as well as site design and other factors.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
We know how search engines can favor certain results and how social media
might push us into bubbles, but it's still easy to view the internet as
a place where we're in control.


==========================================================================
A new study, however, argues that notion of personal empowerment is "an illusion." Corporations are "nudging" the flow of our online attention
more than we realize, and often in hidden ways -- not unlike radio and
TV programmers of the past -- said co-authors Harsh Taneja, with the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Angela Xiao Wu, with
New York University.

The researchers analyzed clickstream data on a million people over one
month of internet use. They also looked at corporate ownership of sites
and platforms, how those sites were designed, and the partnerships that connected them.

They found that on the web, "media architectures still shape the flow
of public attention. This happens in subtle ways that nudge users in
particular directions. It often takes advantage of habitual behaviors and
is generally difficult for the users themselves to see or understand."
Concerns about the power of Big Tech have been growing, with an antitrust
case recently filed and executives testifying before Congress, but Taneja
and Wu claim their study is one of the few to document Big Tech's power systematically and at scale.

Taneja is a professor of media at Illinois and Wu is a professor of
media, culture and communication at NYU. Their study, "Going with the
flow: Nudging attention online," with third author James G. Webster, a professor emeritus of communication studies at Northwestern University,
was published online by the journal New Media & Society.



==========================================================================
In talking about "flow," the researchers are referencing a concept applied earlier to radio and television, "audience flow," which described how broadcasters planned shows and schedules to direct viewers into sequences
of programs.

"What we are trying to show here," Taneja said, "is that even on the
internet there are reasonably predictable patterns of how people go from website to website, which happens due to these larger effects that are
not really based on content. They are based instead on how the internet
is structured by these corporations -- by who links where, who partners
with whom. A lot of these corporate nudges actually mainstream what
people get exposed to, in ways that give users less of what they may
willingly choose." The data used by Taneja and Wu was collected by the research firm Comscore during October 2015. Their data sample, based
on a panel of 1 million internet users, included 1,761 websites that
reached at least 1% of U.S. users during that month. Drawing on that
data, they identified common clusters or "constellations" of websites
that represent browsing sequences and established how that browsing
behavior linked to corporate ownerships, partnerships and website types.

Despite the five years since the data collection, Taneja said their
findings remain at least as valid given the increased power of corporate platforms since then and the greater sophistication of their nudges.

The researchers identified 11 clusters or constellations and the "anchor"
sites within them that served as common starting and returning points
for browsing sequences.



========================================================================== Among these clusters were a Bing/Microsoft cluster anchored by Bing
and MSN content sites; a Google cluster anchored by Google search,
YouTube and Gmail; and a social media cluster anchored by Facebook,
Twitter and LinkedIn.

More surprising were two Yahoo clusters and one AOL cluster, showing
those companies' continued relevance, perhaps due to older users. Other clusters centered on data solicitations, retailers using Citibank,
pornography sites, job search and travel.

Based on their analysis, Taneja and Wu also derived four different
methods through which corporations directed or nudged online users,
each at a different level of user visibility and control. The highest
was content ranking and curation, used by search engines and social media.

The next was hypertexts, used in media content by Yahoo, AOL and Pornhub
to direct users to their own or partner media sites. In these cases,
the nudge was visible, but users had less control.

The third type of nudge was employed by Microsoft through the software configurations built into its Windows operating system, which made
the company's browser, search engine and homepage all the default,
unlikely to be changed by many users. This provided an infrastructure
"wired both into the software and hardware to make users go around the
internet in a certain way," Taneja said.

The fourth type of nudge was largely hidden and outside user control,
coming through back-end databases or software -- exemplified by e-commerce
and service sites such as Citibank, which processed many credit card
payments for retailers, as well as job search, travel and sites that
solicited user data.

To the extent that people think about constraints in their internet
use, it usually focuses on their use of specific platforms, Taneja
said. "People think of constraints as limited to what they do inside
Facebook, or what Google does," he said.

"But they don't see the whole internet as this space that operates with
these very large constraints, or constraints that exist at multiple
layers."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Illinois_at_Urbana-Champaign,_News_Bureau.

Original written by Craig Chamberlain. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Angela Xiao Wu, Harsh Taneja, James G Webster. Going with the flow:
Nudging attention online. New Media & Society, 2020; 146144482094118
DOI: 10.1177/1461444820941183 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201029135426.htm

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