The (Facebook) Bystander Effect

It's a Saturday night and so far this evening I ran 8 miles, chased a rabbit around the yard, and learned the medical term for man-boobs. One thing I did not do, however, is have any sort of social contact minus a few texts seeing if some friends were free this evening (Obviously they were not).

I know you're probably thinking, "Oh God, Joey's going to bitch about not having friends again." While most of the time you would be right (Let's be honest: I'm pretty damn good at bitching) bear with me because this is actually going somewhere productive.

Anyway, where was I? Oh right, not having a social life. So here I was, sitting by my lonesome when I got the idea to post something on Facebook seeing if anyone wanted to hang out. Despite posting the most witty, insightful, and though provoking status I could, no one responded. Whomp whomp. This isn't the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last. I was pondering why the fuck this kept happening when two explanations came into my head:

(Actually, quite a few more came into my head. But these seemed the most likely. I don't think all my friends being abducted by aliens and replaced with illiterate sheep who have hacked into their Facebook accounts is very plausible).

The first explanation is that I'm completely unbearable to be around because I'm annoying as all fuck, smell, am ugly as sin, a real asshole, hated by everyone, or some combination there of. While this is definitely a viable theory because no one wants to to spend time with people with those traits, it's more than likely a product of my paranoia because sometimes I convince myself of some pretty ridiculous things.

I decided to think a little more rationally for an explanation. Suddenly, it hit me as I thought back to my social psychology class and something known as the bystander effect.

Those of you who haven't taken social psychology or even introductory psychology are probably thinking, "What the fuck is the bystander effect?" ...or some variant of that. The bystander effect is an interesting phenomena that occurs when people are confronted with an emergency situation in which someone else needs help. If there's just one person there, they will be significantly more likely to attempt to help than if there is a group of people around. This is believed to occur because when more people are around, people feel less personally obligated to help and the sense of responsibility is diffused throughout the group. Unfortunately, this usually results in no one helping. An example of this from my social psych class was this chick named Feline Genwjwthaiothabgtasjgnasg, or something like that, who was murdered in an alley in New York and, despite crying for help, none of her neighbors called the police.

So what the hell does this have to do with my Facebook post? Think about the way Facebook works: We each have a couple hundred (or, for those who are particularly insecure, a couple thousand) friends that all of our status updates, links, etc. get sent out to. Each of those friends has a couple hundred/thousand friends (again, depending on their level of insecurity). Each of these friends acts as a bystander of sorts and thus everyone develops a, "Oh, someone else will respond" attitude and no one responds even if they may be bored and looking for something to do. I am coining this "the Facebook bystander effect."

Another example from my life was back in March when I was looking for someone to see Girl Talk with me. I posted repeatedly on Facebook asking if anyone wanted to go with me because the person I was originally going with was no longer able to go. Bear in mind that GT sold out two back to back shows in Minneapolis. How many people do you think responded? ZERO. Thankfully, I ran into my friend Edwina (isn't her name AWESOME?!) and she told me she wanted to go. I asked why she didn't respond on Facebook and she said, "Oh, I thought someone else would want to go so I figured I'd wait and see." Like in the real life bystander effect, there were many virtual bystanders so she had just assumed that someone else would respond because of a sort of diffusion of responsibility (although in this case there's no responsibility, but to keep in the context of the original bystander effect I'll use that term).

Now, I realize this is quite the stretch to go from a real life emergency to something as silly as Facebook but think about it abstractly and you'll see that the general concept, the more people there are the less likely someone will act, carries over. Of course, there are other problems. My thinking is in no way based on any empirical evidence because I don't have fucking time to do experiments for fun. I do think the anecdotal evidence suggests there may be something there. Also, it is based off of a theory that actually has empirical evidence behind it. So if any of you happen to be a researcher and want to test this theory out, let me know! *wink wink nudge nudge*

There are some other applications of the Facebook bystander effect that, assuming it's actually happening, I'd be interested in exploring as well. For example, does this still happen if the person making the post has few friends? Are people more likely to respond if they themselves have few friends? What factors can increase responsiveness to a request on Facebook (humor, invoking a sense of obligation, etc.)? How many people would respond to an actual emergency request on Facebook ("The baby's coming! Someone take me to the hospital!") and would responsiveness be affected by any of the above listed factors? Does having a picture of a sexy bikini model increase the likelihood of a response?

Finally, how can this effect be countered? Research would need to be done to make a reliable judgment of whether variations in wording or tone could result in more responses. The best way to counter the Facebook bystander effect would be to make very specific requests. In the actual bystander effect, instead of shouting, "Somebody help me!" it would be a better idea to pick one person out and point to them and shout, "Hey asswipe in the red scarf, call the police!" Okay, maybe don't call them asswipe. But you catch my drift, right?

To apply this to Facebook, instead of posting a status saying, "I'm bored. Someone want to go fly fishing?!" it would be more effective to write on one person's wall, send them a message, use the chat feature, tag them in a post, text them, use a carrier pigeon, address them specifically via smoke signals, etc. I can't promise that this will get you results, however, because it seems like people are too lazy/big of assholes to respond to texts and what not... But that's a whole different blog =)

Another way to overcome the bystander effect may to just simply be aware of it so you can consciously make an effort to notice if it is happening and hopefully act against it. So the take home message is that if you see someone who's looking for something to do or someone to go see a show with on Facebook, don't just assume someone else is going to respond and do it yourself. Chances are, everyone else is thinking, "Someone else is going to respond so why bother?" This especially applies if it's something I post. I always love comments and responses, which is why I obsessively do it on other peoples' posts all the time.

If anyone actually decides to put my little theory to the test, let me know how it goes. From a personal standpoint, hopefully by taking a more proactive and direct approach I won't be spending too many more weekends like this holed up at home.

... Or maybe I'm just an asshole.

Random Life Updates

Hello one and all!

I've just been on a blogging spree lately, haven't I? Maybe it's all the free time I have before summer class starts again. Can't fill it all with exercise, can I? ;)

I have a few short updates I wanted to share really quick that don't really fit in anywhere else but I felt deserved an appearance in here. I have a few blog ideas I'm going to be working on posting soon so look for those!

First of all, I want to start by sending my condolences to anyone who has been affected by these crazy ass tornadoes the past few days. It hit here in Minneapolis not too far from where I live and thankfully, we didn't get hit as bad as other places like Joplin, Missouri. I would like to bring up an interesting thinking/discussion point: The weather lately has been erratic and highly out of the ordinary. Am I the only one who sees this as a product of climate change? I hope people wake up and start listening to the scientists who've been warning that yes, it really is happening!

I'm also really upset that this anti-marriage amendment is going to be up for a vote in Minnesota. I'll probably post a blog about it down the line but just know that angry Joey is ANGRY!!!! >:(

I finally ordered my ticket for Lollapalooza! I'm so excited to FINALLY be going this year! There's a great line up including Girl Talk, the Naked and Famous, Muse, Cold War Kids, Flogging Molly, Cee-Lo, and so many others! It'll be my second music festival this year, too! (I went to SXSW over spring break) And, best of all, I'll be 21! Lolla is a week after my 21st so I'll still be in legal boozing heaven haha. I'm not entirely sure who I'm going with yet but hopefully this won't be a solo trip.

In other exciting news, I have less than two weeks until Chelsea Handler! So excited to see her again! I'm reading her new book and it's HILARIOUS as always.

I've been doing a lot of StumbleUpon lately and, as a result, have come across many different recipes that I want to try. As I try them, I might share a few on here. Get ready for lots of delicious vegetarian cuisine!

That about wraps up that my random blog. Like I said, stay tuned because I have some great posts in store!




Oh, one more thing: No, I did not get raptured on Saturday. I guess Jesus doesn't like agnostics. =)

Day 18: A song that you wish you heard on the radio

I'll repeat something I said yesterday: It's very rare that I actually listen to the radio apart from CBC Radio 3. So today is another day that really doesn't apply to me because I don't listen to the radio enough. I guess more than anything I'd like to hear some VARIETY on the radio. Even the short snipits of radio I hear always seem to be the same song. Come on, mix it up!

For that reason, today's song is by an artist who DOES mix things up. "Play Your Part (Part 1)" is the first track off of Girl Talk's Feed the Animals album, although the whole album really flows like one big song. Girl Talk takes popular songs from today and yesterday and mashes them up and puts them over a new beat so it seems completely fresh and new. It'd be nice to hear something like this on the radio... Not necessarily the Girl Talk mash up style but just a real VARIETY being played.

Also, if any of you are looking for a fantastic live show go see Girl Talk. He mixes the songs up even more so it's not like he just puts on a CD. His shows are INSANE. I can't wait for him to come back.