Measure results after the click, because opposing comments can decrease donations

Willow Bough is a wallpaper pattern by William Morris (1887). The leaves move with the wind. In the same way, the comments under a post change how people see it.

Comments that disagree with a post got the most clicks. But the same comments also made people give less money.

The study. Researchers from Columbia Business School and the University of Illinois showed Facebook posts from a nonprofit organization to about 1 million US users. Each user saw the same post with no comments, supportive comments, opposing comments or a mix.

The finding. Comments of all types increased engagement by 13.4%. Engagement is all the clicks and reactions on the post. Opposing comments increased link clicks by 14.9%. Supportive comments had no clear effect on clicks. But in a second test with about 5,000 people, opposing comments decreased donations by 7.5%.

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