Effects of social information signals on user engagement: evidence from randomized field experiments

Abstract

In this study, we examine the social information signal as a driver of user engagement. Specifically, we model two distinct outcomes related to user engagement: content consumption (e.g. watching a video) and content organisation (e.g. adding a video to a playlist). Given the increasingly social nature of digital platforms, we predict user engagement actions as a function of Peer and Expert social information signals. We employ a series of field experiments on a mobile e-learning application to tease out the distinction between content consumption (CC) and content organisation (CO) based on users’ responses to information signals distinguished based on the source. Our results indicate that the Peer and Expert information signals significantly affect the focal user's CC action but have no effect on their CO actions. These findings, coupled with interesting nuances from two allied field experiments on the same app, reveal the uneven effects of social information signals on both user engagement actions. To sum up, the study presents important implications for predicting user engagement in digital platforms and the social information signaling these platforms can adopt.