A viral tweet or Instagram post holds much sway in disseminating important information. According to a new study, social media users who receive more “likes” and “shares” on their posts are more likely to express outrage in subsequent posts.
Moral outrage, which also blends into online activism, is a critical facet of today’s democracy. It amplifies voices of marginalized groups, pushes the idea of societal good, spurs social change, and holds people accountable for moral transgressions. At the same time, outrage is fertile ground for spreading misinformation and increased polarization.
“This is the first evidence that some people learn to express more outrage over time because they are rewarded by the basic design of social media,” researcher William Brady from Yale University said in a press release. The researchers defined moral outrage as feelings in response to a perceived violation of personal morals; emotions such as anger, disgust, and contempt; specific reactions including blaming people and things or holding them accountable.
The study, published in the journal Science Advances last week, unpacks the reward system at play for users. Its researchers measured the extent of outrage in real-life controversial events to analyze how much social media algorithms which are designed to reward popular content, encourage outrage.
The algorithms create a positive feedback loop, a process similar to reinforcement learning where the prospect of “rewards” dangles over users....
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