Social media platforms provide access to informational and emotional resources that can enable low-income populations to further their socioeconomic mobility and cope with unexpected life demands. However, lack of both interpersonal trust and a sense of shared identity often prevent low-income individuals from eliciting resources from the diverse networks embedded in these platforms. Building on past research, we investigated factors that facilitated and deterred low-income members of the community-based non-profit organization Family Support Network (FSN) from seeking informational and emotional support from other members on the organization’s social media platform, UpLifted. We found that despite participants' perceived shared identity, members primarily requested resources from other UpLifted members through offline interactions due to lack of interpersonal trust. We extend existing research on the limitations of shared identity and the role of interpersonal trust and social norms in facilitating resource-seeking interactions among strangers in low-income contexts. We suggest that social media platforms incorporate pseudonymous posting to facilitate relationship development and allow users to disclose their needs without revealing identifying information.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3449226
While most online accounts are designed assuming a single user, past work has found that romantic couples often share many accounts. Our study examines couples’ account sharing behaviors as their relationships develop. We conducted 19 semi-structured interviews with people who are currently in romantic relationships to understand couples’ account sharing behaviors over the lifecycle of their relationship. We find that account sharing behaviors progress through a relationship where major changes happen at the start of cohabitation, marriage, and occasional breakup. We also find that sharing behaviors and motivations are influenced by couples’ relationship ecology, which consists of the dynamics between the couples and the social environment they live in. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for further study to support couples’ sharing needs at different relationship stages and identify design opportunities for technology solutions to facilitate couples’ sharing.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3449234
People assume different and important roles within social networks. Some roles have received extensive study: that of influencers who are well-connected, and that of brokers who bridge unconnected parts of the network. However, very little work has explored another potentially important role, that of creating opportunities for people to interact and facilitating conversation between them. These individuals bring people together and act as "social catalysts." In this paper, we test for the presence of social catalysts on the online social network Facebook. We first identify posts that have spurred conversations between the poster’s friends and summarize the characteristics of such posts. We then aggregate the number of catalyzed comments at the poster level, as a measure of the individual’s “catalystness.” The top 1% of such individuals account for 31% of catalyzed interactions. Although these individuals’ network characteristics do not differ markedly from others who have a similar number of friends, their catalyst tendency manifests in other ways: they are more likely to create and participate in Facebook groups and events. By collecting survey data, we also validate the behavioral measure of catalystness: a person is more likely to be nominated as a social catalyst by their friends if their posts prompt discussions between other people more frequently. The measure, along with other conversation-related features, is one of the most predictive of a person being nominated as a catalyst. Although influencers and brokers may have gotten more attention for their network positions, our findings provide converging evidence that another important role exists and is recognized in online social networks.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3476023
Declarative variables of self-description have a long-standing tradition in matchmaking media. With the advent of online dating platforms and their brand positioning, the volume and semantics of variables vary greatly across apps. However, a variable landscape across multiple platforms, providing an in-depth understanding of the dating structure offered to users, has hitherto been absent in the literature. In this study, more than 300 declarative variables from 22 Anglophone and Francophone dating apps are examined. A mixed-method research design is used, combining hierarchical classification with an interview analysis of nine founders and developers in the industry. We present a new typology of variables in nine categories and a classification of dating apps, which highlights a double mimetic-distinctive mechanism in the variable definition and reflects the dating market. From the interviews, we extract three main factors concerning the economic and sociotechnical framework of coding practices, the actors’ personal experience, and the development methodologies including user traces that influence this mechanism. This work, which to our knowledge is the most extensive thus far on dating app declarative variables, provides a new perspective on the analysis of the intersection between developers and users of online dating, and one that is mediated through variables, among other components.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3449174
In this paper, we present an account of how FARC-EP ex-combatants are using digital technology in the process of reincorporating into Colombian society. We report findings showing how this technology mediates the difficult task of transitioning from a culture of opposition to civilian members and active political actors. Using the concept of "social capital" as a framework, we investigate the intersection between the use of digital tools and developing cultural and economic practices among these groups during this transitional period. Reflecting on the "bonding" and "bridging" aspects of social capital, we describe how ex-combatants draw on substantial social capital from their former lives as a guerrilla army in order to strengthen their position in these new circumstances, and their cautious and difficult creation of new social ties with wider Colombian society. We contribute to the CSCW discourse by discussing the crucial role digital tools, previously not available to these groups, play in sustaining, re-growing and building social capital of communities in post-conflict periods.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3476072
Many couples experience long-distance relationships (LDRs), and “couple technologies†have been designed to influence certain relational practices or maintain them in challenging situations. Chatbots show great potential in mediating people’s interactions. However, little is known about whether and how chatbots can be desirable and effective for mediating LDRs. In this paper, we conducted a two-phase study to design and evaluate a chatbot, PocketBot, that aims to provide effective interventions for LDRs. In Phase I, we adopted an iterative design process through conducting need-finding interviews to formulate design ideas and piloted the implemented PocketBot with 11 participants. In Phase II, we evaluated PocketBot with eighteen participants (nine LDR couples)} in a week-long field trial followed by exit interviews, which yielded empirical understandings of the feasibility, effectiveness, and potential pitfalls of using PocketBot. First, a knock-on-the-door feature allowed couples to know when to resume an interaction after evading a conflict; this feature was preferred by certain participants (e.g., participants with stoic personalities). Second, a humor feature was introduced to spice up couples’ conversations. This feature was favored by all participants, although some couples’ perceptions of the feature varied due to their different cultural or language backgrounds. Third, a deep talk feature enabled couples at different relational stages to conduct opportunistic conversations about sensitive topics for exploring unknowns about each other, which resulted in surprising discoveries between couples who have been in relationships for years. Our findings provide inspiration for future conversational-based couple technologies that support emotional communication.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3479589
This paper reports an interview study about how consent to sexual activity is computer-mediated. The study’s context of online dating is chosen due to the prevalence of sexual violence, or nonconsensual sexual activity, that is associated with dating app-use. Participants (n=19) represent a range of gender identities and sexual orientations, and predominantly used the dating app Tinder. Findings reveal two computer-mediated consent processes: consent signaling and affirmative consent. With consent signaling, users employed Tinder’s interface to infer and imply agreement to sex without any explicit confirmation before making sexual advances in-person. With affirmative consent, users employed the interface to establish patterns of overt discourse around sex and consent across online and offline modalities. The paper elucidates shortcomings of both computer-mediated consent processes that leave users susceptible to sexual violence, and envisions dating apps as potential sexual violence prevention solutions if deliberately designed to mediate consent exchange.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3449288
People frequently turn to online spaces to debate ideas and discuss interpersonal issues, however these online interactions more often polarize people and damage relationships than their offline equivalencies. This raises the question: how does designs support or undermine users during online arguments? We conducted a three-phase study, including interviews, a survey, and a storyboard design evaluation with 257 total participants to learn about their experiences arguing online and how design shapes this experience. We found that participants want to have hard conversations online more often than they do today. Participants said that certain designs, like easily moving to a more private channel, make constructive arguments more feasible. Other features inhibit hard conversations, such as interfaces that hide comments. We then evaluated 12 novel user-driven designs to support constructive arguments, which revealed a common set of perceived benefits and risks. We contribute empirical data about users' current experiences arguing online and a set of design approaches--and their attendent risks and benefits--to support users in arguing well.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3449230