Media & Technology Press Releases

Survey: Plenty of skepticism of AI in dating apps, especially among women, survey finds

By Burt Glass

More than twice as many people disagree with the idea that computer-powered artificial intelligence in dating apps will lead to more successful relationships than agree – and the gap is even larger among women.

That’s according to a new opinion survey designed by the Communication Research Center at Boston University’s College of Communication and conducted by Ipsos.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is playing a greater role in how dating apps find potential partners for users and is touted by their creators as a big step forward in the field. But Kathryn Coduto, an assistant professor of media science at Boston University and the survey’s designer, says that uncertainty around AI has been consistent over three years of opinion surveys.

“People still feel like they can find a soulmate on a dating app, and at the same time they still feel largely uncertain about AI,” Coduto says.

Only one in 10 (10%) women agree AI-powered dating apps lead to more successful relationships, half that of men (20%).

“Among those who follow the industry, there have been whisperings about this, and the difference is small but significant,” Coduto adds. “This is some of the first hard evidence that women differ from men in this arena, and it follows trends about men generally being more optimistic and present on dating apps.”

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Survey: Across parties, Americans accept removal of false health info by social media companies, survey says

By Burt Glass

An overwhelming majority (72%) of Americans across political parties believe it is acceptable for social media platforms to remove inaccurate information about public health issues, according to a new opinion survey from Boston University.

The survey, designed by researchers at the Communication Research Center at the university’s College of Communication, found that Americans agreed on this across political divides, with 85% of Democrats, 70% of Independents, and 61% of Republicans approving of companies removing this kind of false content.

The same poll reveals that nearly two in three adults (63%) believe if social media posts spread unverified information about a public health issue, it is acceptable for independent fact-checking organizations to verify social media content. About the same percentage (65%) of Americans believe it’s acceptable for social media companies to lower the visibility of inaccurate information about public health issues on their apps and websites, known as “downranking.”

The integrity of public discourse is at risk as political leaders push the boundaries of truth,” says Michelle Amazeen, an associate professor at Boston University’s College of Communication and director of the Communication Research Center. “With social media companies abandoning their fact-checking programs, it is more urgent than ever for these platforms to take meaningful action, given their pivotal role in shaping the national conversation.”

In contrast, less than half (48%) of those surveyed support the “community notes” model where users write and rate notes that appear next to specific posts. Although there are some partisan differences—73% of Democrats, 62% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans favor a fact-checking model—the lukewarm reception of community notes crosses party lines.

“The results so far of social media platforms relying on users to rate the accuracy of posts are sobering,” Amazeen says. “Despite the presence of the community notes programs, social media platforms that use this model remain rife with misinformation.”

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Survey: Despite Election Results, Americans Held More Negative Feelings About Trump Than Harris, Survey Finds

By Burt Glass

Americans surveyed just before the presidential election held stronger negative emotions about Donald Trump than Kamala Harris, running counter to the results days later, according to the latest survey by Boston University’s College of Communication.

Nearly half of respondents said they would describe their feelings about Trump as “disgusted” (48%) or “repulsed” (45%). In contrast, about a third said they would describe their feelings about Harris as “disgusted” (34%) or “repulsed” (32%). The gap was similar when respondents considered other emotions such as anger and fear.

Neither candidate seemed to elicit enthusiasm among respondents. Only 40% felt enthusiastic, strongly other otherwise, about Harris, and 31% felt that way about Trump.

Yet four days after the survey was completed, Trump won nearly 50% of the popular vote compared to slightly more than 48% for Harris.

“In general, Americans were slightly more enthusiastic toward Harris and more angry, afraid, and disgusted by Trump,” said H. Denis Wu , a professor at Boston University’s College of Communication and author of the survey questions. “Partisan difference of emotions in candidate evaluations is predictable and self-clarifying.

“However, the emotions voters had right before the election did not necessarily align well with their party memberships, as some Democrats were angry and disgusted by Harris,” he added.

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Survey: Social Media Negatively Impacts Women More than Men, Americans Say in Survey

By Burt Glass

Social media impacts women more negatively than men, according to most Americans, but traditional media does a better job giving equal attention to issues that affect both.

The latest Media & Technology survey by Boston University’s College of Communication found that three times as many than not, for example, say social media content negatively impacts women more than men, in terms of body perception, lifestyle and self-esteem (52% agree vs. 17% disagree).

But when asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the idea that TV, magazines, radio and newspapers “give equal attention to issues that affect women and issues that affect men,” respondents were almost evenly split (32% agreed, 35% disagreed).

“The most surprising result was the proportion of people, an average of 35%, that have no clear position when it comes to having an opinion on how women’s issues are covered or portrayed in the media,” said Nivea Canalli Bona., a master lecturer at Boston University’s College of Communication. “This could be a sign of low media literacy, which shows that people are not critical of the role media plays in perpetuating stereotypes. It can further point to the need for more media literacy projects in the country – with the goal of fighting misinformation and disinformation – which should investigate the gender issue.”

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Survey: Social Media Should Include Warnings about Nicotine, Vaping — and Social Media Itself, say Large Majorities

By Burt Glass

Social media companies should include warning labels on posts promoting nicotine, vaping and tobacco, say large majorities of Americans in the latest Media & Technology survey from Boston University’s College of Communication.

“The Surgeon General’s call for warning labels on social media is straight from the tobacco playbook when the government required warning labels on tobacco products,” said Traci Hong, PhD., professor at Boston University College of Communication and author of the survey. “They work, but they are not widely used on social media where vaping is promoted.

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Survey: Democrats’ Convention Knocked Trump’s Image Among Independents, Survey Suggests

By Burt Glass

The Democratic National Convention weakened former President Donald Trump’s image – notably among political Independents — but did not appreciably boost that of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, according to new national surveys conducted before and after the convention by Boston University’s College of Communication.

“The changes we are seeing, pre- and post-DNC in how Independents perceive Donald Trump is quite staggering,” said Anne Danehy, a former pollster and associate professor of the practice teaching political campaigns at Boston University’s College of Communication. “The Democratic National Convention did a good job of cutting into Trump’s image, but those positive images were not transferred to Harris.”

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Survey: Moderators Should Point Out Factual Errors in Real Time on Eve of Presidential Debate, Americans say

By Burt Glass

On the eve of the first of two planned presidential debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, more than two out of three Americans say moderators should point out factual inaccuracies in candidates’ comments during the debate, according to a new Media & Technology Survey from Boston University’s College of Communication, out today.

Support for fact-checking in real time is stronger among Democrats (81% agree or strongly agree) than Republicans (67%), the survey finds.

“Support for moderators pointing out errors is bipartisan and relatively high across the board,” said Tammy Vigil, PhD., senior associate dean and associate professor, media science, at Boston University’s College of Communication. “Still, the results imply that Democrats either may value verifiable information more than the Republican counterparts, or that they think live fact checking would significantly benefit their candidate or harm the opposition.”

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Survey: Leery of Government Regulation, Americans Want Social Media to Police Misinformation

By Burt Glass

The U.S. government should not regulate social media platforms, but the platform owners should remove, hide or limit traffic to posts with unverified information, according to Americans responding to a new Media & Technology Survey from Boston University’s College of Communication, out today.

A strong plurality (46%) disagreed or strongly disagreed with the U.S. government regulating social media platforms, compared to only 28% who agreed or strongly agreed. Respondents expressed more agreement with the removal (63%) or minimizing (57%) of unverified information by the platforms themselves.

These results reflect both the public’s skepticism of governmental overreach and support for private solutions to countering misinformation, according to Chris Chao Su, an assistant professor of emerging media studies at Boston University’s College of Communication who designed the survey.

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Survey: Public’s Confidence in its Ability to Evaluate AI-Generated Text Cause for Concern

By Burt Glass

More Americans are adopting tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, but a new opinion survey suggests scoring in their own ability to evaluate the accuracy, reliability, completeness, and biases of the text generated by artificial intelligence is cause for concern.

According to Yi Grace Ji, assistant professor at Boston University’s College of Communication and the primary investigator of the survey, in partnership with Ipsos, said the average result – a mean score of 3.26 out of 5, with a 5 for individuals who strongly agree that they can perform a set of specified tasks in critically evaluating AI-generated responses – is worrisome, especially because respondents tend to overestimate their own abilities.

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Survey: Dating Apps Not Best to Find Your Soulmate, But Still Worth It.

By Burt Glass

Dating apps may not be the best way to find a soulmate – but why risk giving them up?

That’s how many Americans feel about dating apps on Valentine’s Day, according to a new Media and Technology survey from Boston University’s College of Communication and Ipsos.

Many more men (42%) and women (37%) either agreed or strongly agreed that “people can find their soulmates” on a dating app, than disagreed (men 16%, women 15%).

Read the full article here.