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Neely Center Introduces First of its Kind Social Media Index

By tracking usage and quality of experiences, the Social Media Index will allow the public, researchers, and policymakers to make meaningful comparisons across time, events, and platforms, for the first time.

by: Ann Newton

07.05.23

Featured

Nathanael Fast
- Jorge Paulo and Susanna Lemann Chair in Entrepreneurship
- Associate Professor of Management and Organization
- Director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making
- Co-Director of the Psychology of Technology Institute
Ravi Iyer
- Managing Director, Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making
- Managing Director, Psychology of Technology Institute

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USC Marshall’s NEELY CENTER FOR ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND DECISION MAKING announced the launch of the NEELY SOCIAL MEDIA INDEX – the first longitudinal public tracking survey of user experiences across popular tech platforms, with new data to be published monthly. The Index will measure user experiences across the leading social media platforms. By tracking usage and quality of experiences, the Social Media Index will allow the public, researchers, and policymakers to make meaningful comparisons across time, events, and platforms, for the first time.

“Social media plays an outsized role in our day-to-day lives and public discourse,” said NATHANAEL FAST, Director of the Neely Center and Associate Professor of Management and Organization. “But until now, we’ve lacked access to regularly updated data that measures people’s experiences with the major platforms are evolving. We hope the Neely Ethics & Technology Indices will spur tech companies to improve their platforms for the public good while also providing valuable guidance to consumers and policymakers.”

While tech companies usually collect user data for their internal use, the lack of public accessibility means it’s near impossible for users – and independent researchers – to compare and understand how these technologies impact our lives and societal health. The Neely Center created the Social Media Index to encourage social media companies to be more accountable for experiences on their platforms, provide researchers and technologists with high-quality data, and share relevant insights with policymakers and consumers.

RAVI IYER, Managing Director of the Neely Center and lead for the project hopes that over time these findings can create better outcomes for users. “My experience working in technology has taught me that reported user experiences are one of the best indicators of the impact that platforms are having on users and society. As companies continue to cut trust and safety staff, we are hopeful that our measures can signal when such cuts are impacting the users they serve.”

“As companies continue to cut trust and safety staff, we are hopeful that our measures can signal when such cuts are impacting the users they serve.”

— Ravi Iyer

Neely Center Managing Director

Noteworthy initial findings from the Neely Social Media Index’s first data set are available as a DOWNLOADABLE PDF.

Positive Experiences:

Facebook (33.1%) and Discord (32.9%) users reported the highest percentage of meaningful connections with others.
YouTube (47.9%) and Pinterest (34.7%) had the highest rates of learning useful information.

Negative Experiences:

Nextdoor users reported the highest percentage of witnessing/experiencing something that affected them negatively (26.1%) compared to all other platforms. (Twitter was next highest at 21.2%).
More users of Twitter reported witnessing content they considered bad for the world (31.3%) than any other platform (Facebook was next at 27.7%).

Purpose-Driven Platforms

LinkedIn had the rare combination of providing positive experiences (23.4% of users reported learning useful information, and 17.3% experienced meaningful connections) with minimal negative experiences (only 1.6% reported being affected negatively and 2% reported content that was bad for the world).

More on the Methodology and Funding

Based on a nationally representative longitudinal tracking survey, each of the index findings can be compared across age, gender, political affiliation, race, and education. More information about the survey methodology and the latest results can be found HERE.

First wave findings above are based on user experiences over a 28-day period; the survey was fielded March 2 - May 7, 2023).

The Neely Ethics & Technology Indices are produced by the USC Marshall Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in collaboration with the Psychology of Technology Research Network. Seed funding for the project comes from USC Marshall as well as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.