New tab page recommendations cause a strong suppression of exploratory web browsing behaviors

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that typical 'New Tab' page recommendations significantly suppress users' exploratory browsing behaviors, limiting access to diverse information sources through experimental and simulation evidence.

Contribution

The paper provides empirical and simulation evidence showing that standard recommendation methods on 'New Tab' pages hinder web exploration, revealing a cognitive bias effect in UI design.

Findings

Recommendations reduce access to infrequent pages

Suppression effect is significant at individual level

Simulation predicts decreased discovery of new sources

Abstract

Through a combination of experimental and simulation results, we illustrate that passive recommendations encoded in typical computer user-interfaces (UIs) can subdue users' natural proclivity to access diverse information sources. Inspired by traditional demonstrations of a part-set cueing effect in the cognitive science literature, we performed an online experiment manipulating the operation of the 'New Tab' page for consenting volunteers over a two month period. Examination of their browsing behavior reveals that typical frequency and recency-based methods for displaying websites in these displays subdues users' propensity to access infrequently visited pages compared to a situation wherein no web page icons are displayed on the new tab page. Using a carefully designed simulation study, representing user behavior as a random walk on a graph, we inferred quantitative predictions about the extent to which discovery of new sources of information may be hampered by personalized 'New Tab' recommendations in typical computer UIs. We show that our results are significant at the individual level and explain the potential consequences of the observed suppression in web-exploration.