The use of social media has become one of the most common activities on the internet. By the end of 2018, approximately 2.65 billion individuals were using social media platforms throughout the world, and the figure is expected to rise to 3.1 billion by 2021. Facebook is the most popular social media site, with approximately 2.4 billion active users. Social media has revolutionized how people get information and influence different aspects, such as politics in society. However, a worrying trend caused by social media use is the rapid loss of individuality. In the current world, people have increasingly become susceptible to what is considered trendy or good in the eyes of the general public. As a result, the issues of consensus on social media sites has risen. Do people like what they like on social media sites because they like it or because others like it? In the current study, we seek to evaluate Facebook consensus among the site's users.
According to Cohen & Golden (1972), a person's judgment about a specific product can be modified by the perceived assessment of other people even if the individual has a different encounter with the product. The conformity happens even in situations where the opinion is not from an expert or individuals made to feel that the information is in some way, reliable or correct (Cohen &Golden, 1972). Therefore, even in situations that provide a tiny room for social influence, information has a major influence on product assessment. The researchers, therefore, propose that social influence has a major impact on a person's opinion, even if the existing conditions favor normative compliance. In a different study conducted by Colliander (2019) to investigate the impact of conformity in a fake news situation, the researcher found that comments from other social media users are effective than disclaimers in dealing with fake news. Conformity is a critical factor in guiding how people respond to fake news. People who use social media tend to use comments made by other users in guiding how they react to fake news instead of using disclaimers (Colliander, 2019). Therefore, the actions of other social media users in the comments area of articles presenting disinformation have a major influence on the attitudes of other users towards the fake news and their motives to either comment or share. A disclaimer of fake news may not lower people's attitudes to comment positively.
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In another study conducted by Kelly et al. (2017), changes that contain little statistical information about other people's attitudes are effective in causing conformity when making moral judgments. According to the researchers, although studies in the past proposed that face to face interaction is essential, their findings indicate that all that is needed to introduce conformity in making a judgment is statistical data on how other people reacted. Even in anonymous situations, social information seems to impact moral judgment (Kelly et al., 2017). Arguments that appeal to the emotions of people do not cause conformity in a big way, like rational appeals. Conformity is more information related than social, considering the case of social media where there is no face to face social interaction (Kelly et al., 2017). In a similar study, Perfumi et al. (2019) indicate that task ambiguity is the main predictor of conformity on social media. Informational influence is effective in social media platforms. According to Perfumi et al. (2019), total anonymity, physical isolation, and interaction are crucial contextual factors that influence the impact of informational influence in the online environment. In separate anonymous and physically isolated situations, conformity is encouraged and high. However, in situations where both anonymity and isolation are integrated, the possibility to conform is reduced (Perfumi et al., 2019). In situations that lack social identification with other users, the impact of social influence is minimized, and this can also happen when the pressure to conform is not strictly linked to complying with social norms but the desire to acquire information. Individuals conform when there is a significant number of people who influence them or when influenced by people they are related to (Egebark & Mathias, 2011). Less attention and observational learning are not likely to induce conformity. However, suspicions, in general, could be essential, especially when considering the dynamic processes through which an opinion evolves (Egebark & Mathias, 2011). Egebark & Mathias (2011) propose that conformity is present even when one is in front of a computer screen where one could easily hide because no one knows if they saw an update or not. Therefore, the decision to conform most probably comes from the subconscious part.
To better understand social media influence on conformity, we devised a study to evaluate the extent of Facebook consensus among Facebook users. We predict that the study's participants will conform to informational social influence by other Facebook users. The study hypothesizes that reactions of other Facebook users will influence the participants' moral judgment and decisions even though they might have had a previous different encounter with the type of information. Besides, we also predict that participants will conform even if the information is not from an expert or a reliable source that they know of. Face to face interaction will not be necessary for individuals to conform or concede with other Facebook users. The literature review supports the study's hypothesis because it proposes that informational social media has an influence/impact on an individual's moral judgment hence leading to Facebook consensus.
References
Cohen, J. B., & Golden, E. (1972). Informational social influence and product evaluation. Journal of Applied Psychology , 56 (1), 54–59. doi: 10.1037/h0032139
Colliander, J. (2019). “This is fake news”: Investigating the role of conformity to other users’ views when commenting on and spreading disinformation in social media. Computers in Human Behavior , 97 , 202–215. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.03.032
Egebark, J., & Ekström, M. (2011). Like What You Like or Like What Others Like? Conformity and Peer Effects on Facebook. SSRN Electronic Journal . doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1948802
Kelly, M., Ngo, L., Chituc, V., Huettel, S., & Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2017). Moral conformity in online interactions: rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral judgments. Social Influence , 12 (2-3), 57–68. doi: 10.1080/15534510.2017.1323007
Perfumi, S. C., Bagnoli, F., Caudek, C., & Guazzini, A. (2019). Deindividuation effects on normative and informational social influence within computer-mediated-communication. Computers in Human Behavior , 92 , 230–237. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2018.11.017
