A mockup of a prompt that reminds users that "Headlines Don't Tell The Full Story".

Disallow Sharing of Unclicked Links

Cut down on the spread of misinformation

Our confidence rating

Emergent

Share This Intervention

What It Is

When a user attempts to "share" or "retweet" or equivalent the platform detects whether or not you've clicked the link (and possibly spent any time on the link, if that's technically feasible to track). If the user hasn't, then the platform does not allow them to share the link, and may offer a popup or dialogue to share why.

Civic Signal Being Amplified

Understand
:
Show reliable information

When To Use It

Interactive

Proactive interventions are designed to shape the overall user experience and environment. They aim to prevent antisocial behavior in the first place, and to foster a positive community.

Interactive interventions engage users in a dialogue or activity to promote prosocial behavior. They encourage reflection, empathy, or positive interactions.

Reactive interventions are triggered by specific user actions or content. They attempt to mitigate potential negative consequences.

Whenever a user is about to share a link on an app or platform without having opened the link, the platform can offer this guidance.

What Is Its Intended Impact

The intention is to encourage people to think about the content they are sharing and increase the likelihood for them to decide not to share things that look questionable with further examination (e.g., headlines that aren't actually backed up by the content of the article). Since misinformation is easier to identify by reading a full article than just by reading a snippet or headline, this intervention could cut down on the sharing of misinformation.

Evidence That It Works

Evidence That It Works

Twitter has started doing this and has tweeted short claims to its effectiveness. Since this is a promotion of their own product, we would like to see more detailed data and methodology, ideally from an independent source.

Why It Matters

There is evidence that sharing unopened links, and therefore unread content, is pervasive.

A 2016 study from computer scientists at Columbia University and Microsoft found that 59% of links posted on Twitter are never clicked.

The creation of user friction in these cases should, as Twitter has deduced, allow for more informed discussions and preempt the spread of hoaxes and disinformation.

Special Considerations

Examples

This intervention entry currently lacks photographic evidence (screencaps, &c.)

Citations

Social Clicks: What and Who Gets Read on Twitter?

Maksym Gabielkov, Arthi Ramachandran, Augustin Chaintreau, Arnaud Legout
Proc. of ACM SIGMETRICS'16
April 13, 2016
10.1145/2896377.2901462

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Further reading

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