Webmunk: A New Tool for Studying Online Behavior and Digital Platforms

Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin and Chris Karr

No 32694, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Understanding the behavior of users online is important for researchers, policymakers, and private companies alike. But observing online behavior and conducting experiments is difficult without direct access to the user base and software of technology companies. We introduce Webmunk, an open-source tool designed to make conducting online studies much easier. The user-facing side of Webmunk is a browser extension that can track consumer browsing behavior and experimentally modify consumers experiences as they browse the Internet. It can be installed just like any other browser extension, such as ad blockers. Through this extension, researchers can collect a host of consumer data, from URLs to web page HTML elements, clicks, and scroll positions. The extension can also modify information and change the look of a web page, allowing for researchers to implement interventions that vary across study participants. A key advantage of this approach is that interventions occur while participants are engaging in real world activities such as shopping, browsing the news, using social media, or searching for information. We demonstrate the power of Webmunk by discussing two studies in progress.

JEL-codes: K2 L4 M0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-mkt and nep-pay
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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