Why disabling comments is bad news for celebrities and influencers

The study is titled ‘No Comments (From You): Understanding the Interpersonal and Professional Consequences of Disabling Social Media Comments’ and is authored by academics Michelle Daniels and Freeman Wu.

Various celebrities and influencers, including Oprah Winfrey, have occasionally disabled access to their social media comments in response to negative sentiment. Is this misguided?

The answer is ‘yes’, according to the new research. The study finds that influencers who disable social media comments are less persuasive and less likable than those who do not, even when the displayed comments are mostly negative.

As Daniels explains: “We discovered that when influencers disable comments, they are perceived as less receptive to consumer feedback, or what we term ‘consumer voice.’

Judged as being less sincere

“Consequently, they are judged as less sincere and ultimately incur both interpersonal and professional consequences. In other words, disabling comments can undermine a key influencer asset, their perceived receptiveness to consumer voice and their ability to connect and engage with their followers.”

Indeed, the research found that turning off comments is more costly for an influencer’s reputation than leaving them on, even when the displayed comments are mostly negative in nature.

This effect occurs because influencers who leave their comments enabled appear to be interested in hearing from the public and learning from their actions while those who turn them off signal their dismissiveness of others’ opinions.

Under certain situations, consumers understand an influencer’s decision to disable comments. If, for example, an influencer is perceived as taking reasonable measures to protect themselves during times of emotional turmoil and distress (e.g., grief and mental health struggles), the backlash against disabling comments is weakened.

“However, it is critical to note that it is consumers, rather than the influencers, who decide what are considered reasonable forms of self-protection,” emphasises Wu.

So, while consumers might empathise with an influencer’s decision to disable comments if their beloved pet had recently died, they may be less empathetic to influencers who disable comments to avoid negative feedback after apologising for a transgression.

You can find out more about the study here.