An analysis of individuals’ behavior change in online groups

Abstract

Many online platforms support social functions that enable their members to communicate, befriend, and join groups with one another. These social engagements are known to shape individuals’ future behavior. However, most work has focused solely on how peers influence behavior and little is known what additional role online groups play in changing behavior. We investigate the capacity for group membership to lead users to change their behavior in three settings: (1) selecting physical activities, (2) responding to help requests, and (3) remaining active on the platform. To do this, we analyze nearly half a million users over five years from a popular fitness-focused social media platform whose unique affordances allow us to precisely control for the effects of social ties, user demographics, and communication. We find that after joining a group, users readily adopt the exercising behavior seen in the group, regardless of whether the group was exercise and non-exercise themed, and this change is not explained by the influence of pre-existing social ties. Further, we find that the group setting equalizes the social status of individuals such that lower status users still receive responses to requests. Finally, we find, surprisingly, that the number of groups one joins is negatively associated with user retention, when controlling for other behavioral and social factors.