Identity and reputation drive some of the most important decisions we make online: Who to follow or link to, whose information to trust, whose opinion to rely on when choosing a product or service, whose content to consume and share. Yet, we know very little about the dynamics of online reputation and how it affects our decision making.

The MIT Sloan School of Management’s Sinan Aral describes a series of randomized experiments that explore the population level behavioral dynamics catalyzed by identity and reputation online. He explores some of the implications for bias in online ratings, the foundations of social advertising and the ability to generate cascades of behavior through peer to peer social influence in networks. The coming decades will likely see an emphasis on verified identities online. Aral argues that a new science of online identity could help guide our business, platform design and social policy decisions in light of the rising importance of online reputation and social influence.