As we continue to partner with key experts to bridge technology and social science in order to promote neighborhood vitality and foster a welcoming platform, Nextdoor collaborated with The Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School on a new study.
The study, Promoting Online Civility Through Platform Architecture, explored whether social media platforms can be designed to encourage more civil conversations among neighbors, promoting individual and community well-being.
The study prompted neighbors to move their popular posts from their neighborhood-wide feed to new groups dedicated to discussion of that specific topic. A randomized experiment gave prosocial group discussion guidelines to members of these newly-formed groups.
The team used a mix of qualitative, quantitative, and user behaviors measures for analysis:
- The civility of comments
- Moral values reflected in comments
- Member reports of comments on the platform
The results of the study indicate that platform architecture can be used to positively shape the civility of conversations.
This research demonstrates that Nextdoor considers the importance of the design, structure, and affordance of its platform when seeking to promote civility and other prosocial behaviors.
Read the full article in the Journal of Online Trust and Safety.
Sources:
Journal of Online Trust and Safety. Promoting Online Civility Through Platform Architecture.
https://tsjournal.org/index.php/jots/article/view/54
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