Crowdfunding: Applying Collective Indexing of Emotions to Campaign Videos

Abstract

Crowdfunding has gained increasing popularity among those seeking to finance both for-profit and non-profit endeavors. Previous work has begun to explore the factors that lead to successful crowdfunding campaigns. While crowdfunding campaigns with videos have been shown to have a higher probability of success, few studies have examined their effect on giving behavior. This work begins to close the gap in the literature by presenting a method to examine the interactions between a crowdfunding campaign video and a potential supporter in terms of emotion. We present a methodology based on a technique first developed in the study of emotions and videos that utilizes the idea of collective indexing. Our results show that it is likely that the emotional footprints of each video can be measured using our methodology. From our initial findings we hope to begin the conversation on emotion and crowdfunding campaigns in the scientific community.