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A static feed with scripted comment threads

Write all comments before the study: who writes what, who replies to whom, and when a reply shows. No live agents are necessary.

5 steps 6 min read

  1. When to script instead of simulate

    Agent accounts reply only to comments from participants. They reply to a participant's comment on a post. They never reply to each other.

    If your design needs a fixed exchange between accounts, write it as seed comments. An example is a disagreement that all participants see in the same way.

    • Seed comments are part of the stimulus. All participants in a condition see the same thread at the same times.
    • A feed with only seed comments needs no API key.
    • Accounts that only post and comment stay crowd accounts.

  2. A comment by a chosen account

    In the feed editor, select the post and choose Add comment.

    • Select the account from the list. You can use any account in the feed, also accounts that do not post.
    • Write the text.
    • Set the heart field. This is the number of likes that the participant sees next to the comment.
    • Set the time label (1h, 50m, now). This is the time column of the spreadsheet.
    mara.linden comments on the winter ferry post.

  3. Replies by other accounts

    Under a comment, Reply adds a comment that replies to it. Select the account that replies.

    Instagram and Facebook show one level of replies. Thus a reply is always to the top comment. To reply to a comment lower down, use an @handle, as people do on those sites.

    The clock field holds a comment back. Its unit is milliseconds from the start of the feed. The reply from tomas.k has the value 20000, so it shows after twenty seconds. The participant's actions do not change this time.

    Save the feed and deploy.

    civic.desk replies immediately; tomas.k replies to civic.desk after twenty seconds.

  4. The same thread from a spreadsheet

    If you have more than a few threads, write them in the feed CSV. For the starter kit, see Build a social media study with simulated accounts.

    • Give the comment that gets replies a commentId.
    • Put that id in the replyTo column of each reply.
    • Put the delay in the showAt column. Its unit is also milliseconds.

    The thread above is three rows under the post p1:

    • comment, p1, c1, mara.linden, …
    • comment, p1, c2, civic.desk, …, with replyTo c1
    • comment, p1, c3, tomas.k, …, with replyTo c1 and showAt 20000

    A replyTo must name an earlier comment on the same post. If it does not, the import tells you which row is incorrect.

  5. What the participant sees

    The thread is under the post when the feed opens. The late reply goes into the thread at its time.

    Collapse seed comments, in the feed settings, sets how threads start. When it is on (the default, as on a real feed), threads start folded behind "View comments". When it is off, threads start open, as here.

    Participants can like and reply to all the scripted comments. Carrier records all of these actions, as What the feed records tells.

    After twenty seconds, the reply from tomas.k shows under the comment from civic.desk.