Sociogeek survey presentation at LIFT09

Daniel Kaplan, CEO of the Fing Foundation, presented a quite unique way — a game — to conduct an online survey during a short open stage talk at the 2009 LIFT conference.

Sociogeek: How do you expose yourself online? How do you choose your online friends? Another kind of online survey

Are we being too candid about ourselves when online? Are we as transparent as we pretend to be? What strategies do we follow in order to maximize the range and efficiency of our online social networks? And how do we select new online “friends”? Does online networking lower current social barriers?

From September to December 2008, the Sociogeek online survey has been trying to shed new lights on these questions, and more. Sociogeek was designed as a game. First, participants were shown sets of photos and asked which picture they would publish or not on social sites – assuming, of course, these photos were of themselves or their own family. Second, participants were presented with 16 profiles of other individuals and went through a progressive discovery, selection and elimination process.

Despite its complexity (20 min minimum), the survey drew more than 12,000 complete responses. Its results are currently being processed and a preview analysis was highlighted during LIFT.

The survey and an initial analysis – in French – can be accessed here: http://sociogeek.com/

My guess is that the tendency of people to answer in socially favourable directions is much reduced using this technique.

Here is the SlideShare version of Daniel’s presentation.