Advancements in collaborative filtering and related technologies have resulted in the ubiquitous presence of other users' opinions and actions on a variety of Websites and portals, ranging from news to music to photo sites. But, do these cues about others' behaviors guide our own decisions online? Our lab group has begun exploring this "bandwagon effect" from a variety of perspectives. In one pilot study reported here, outcomes such as purchase intention and attitudes toward products on an ecommerce site are dictated by user perceptions of others' opinions about the site's products. Empirical determination of the cues triggered by collaborative filtering technologies and the psychological mechanisms by which they lead to bandwagon effects have important implications for interface design of technologies that display user input.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.