While social media data is a valuable source for inferring human behavior, its in-practice utility hinges on extraneous factors. Notable is the \u201cobserver effect,\u201d where awareness of being monitored can alter people\u2019s social media use. We present a causal-inference study to examine this phenomenon on the longitudinal Facebook use of 300+ participants who voluntarily shared their data spanning an average of 82 months before and 5 months after study enrollment. We measured deviation from participants\u2019 expected social media use through time series analyses. Individuals with high cognitive ability and low neuroticism decreased posting immediately after enrollment, and those with high openness increased posting. The sharing of self-focused content decreased, while diverse topics emerged. We situate the findings within theories of self-presentation and self-consciousness. We discuss the implications of correcting observer effect in social media data-driven measurements, and how this phenomenon shines light on the ethics of these measurements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While social media data is a valuable source for inferring human behavior, its in-practice utility hinges on extraneous factors. Notable is the \u201cobserver effect,\u201d where awareness of being monitored can alter people\u2019s social media use. 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