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Show HN: We built an open-source social-media simulator for research

49 pointsby sothatsitover 2 years ago
Psychology research is currently facing a crisis: A significant amount of published studies cannot be reliably reproduced. Yet these studies will still be used in news headlines, and treated as fact.<p>Research into social media has not been immune to this either, with the problem exacerbated by study designs that don’t match the real world. We built the Misinformation Game to aid in this problem.<p>Our tool allows researchers to design social-media studies that look and feel like social media, while also making sure that each participant has a similar experience. This is really important for the ecological validity of studies (i.e., is it similar to reality), and the reproducibility of studies (chance plays less of a role). The tool’s reproducibility is further helped because the configuration of studies can be downloaded and shared alongside published research, minimising the work required for replication.<p>I have really enjoyed working on this project, and I hope you also find it interesting! I think there are huge opportunities to aid in research in non-tech fields using software, and I hope this project is a step in that direction.<p>There are example studies for you to play through that are available through the website. I’m excited to hear your thoughts on it!<p>All the best, ~ Paddy

7 comments

ChicagoBoy11over 2 years ago
A non trivial part of social media is the social component, where folks build their own networks according to all sorts of graphs and in many instances using real world identities to do that. Do you have a sense as to the impact that the absence of that has on using something like this? Sure, we can fairly accurately replicate the mechanics of a social network, but the decision making in it surely is influenced by the difference in the social graph&#x2F;tie to real identity&#x2F;etc.
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luxuryballsover 2 years ago
I found a post that said “5G is spreading COVID” and, believe it or not, I have a source for that topic <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pmc&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC8580522&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pmc&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC8580522&#x2F;</a>
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anigbrowlover 2 years ago
<i>A significant amount of published studies cannot be reliably reproduced.</i><p>A problem likely to accelerate with the supposedly imminent (Thursday) unavailability of the free Twitter API.
pphyschover 2 years ago
How does the ad industry do this sort of testing? Do they just get backdoor access to real social networks?
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disadvantageover 2 years ago
What&#x27;s your thoughts on things like Kinzen[0] who fight misinfo? They recently got acquired by Spotify[1]<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.kinzen.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.kinzen.com&#x2F;</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techcrunch.com&#x2F;2022&#x2F;10&#x2F;05&#x2F;spotify-acquires-content-moderation-tech-company-kinzen-to-address-platform-safety-issues&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techcrunch.com&#x2F;2022&#x2F;10&#x2F;05&#x2F;spotify-acquires-content-m...</a>
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philipovover 2 years ago
Please tell me you called your simulator the Terror Nexus.
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genpfaultover 2 years ago
&gt; social-media simulator<p>Google People[1]?<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;qntm.org&#x2F;person" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;qntm.org&#x2F;person</a>
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