Extremity Bias in User-Generated Content Creation and Consumption in Social Media

Abstract

The present research finds support for an extremity bias in social media. User-generated content in social media is found to portray more extreme behavior than what is observed in offline and nonmedia contexts. This bias is observed in the context of makeup-related consumer behavior. Study 1 finds that consumers with higher (lower) self-reported extremity in their makeup style are more likely to create (consume) makeup-related content in social media. Likewise, Study 2 finds that makeup styles portrayed in social media are perceived as more extreme than those portrayed offline. Study 3 finds that the extremity bias, observed in the previous studies, can shift other perception; brief exposure to makeup styles on Instagram was found to lessen the perceived extremity of offline makeup styles. The results suggest that, like traditional media, content in social media may be biased toward extremity. This bias may be the result of motivational differences between creators versus consumers of social media content and may result in exposure to social media shifting social norms to more extreme levels.