Changing Views: Pre-suasion in a Reddit Discussion Community

Abstract

Social media allows people to connect and disconnect easily, which leads to more polarization over time. Polarization and the emergence of echo chambers pose a threat to humanity, implying a need to design a healthy social ecosystem in the digital space. Online platforms fostering an environment for good faith discussions and diverse opinions could serve this need. ChangeMyView community of Reddit can be a good example for such an environment because of community-specific characteristics. In this study, utilizing elaboration likelihood model and Cialdini’s pre-suasion, we study the effect of the reward system on individuals’ persuasion mechanisms. Our research design employs a mixed-methods approach in which we investigate (1) the persuasion strategies used in the community and (2) the information processing mechanisms of the community members. We believe that this study will provide insights into potential features of a healthier social ecosystem in digital spaces