▁polar ization ▁in ▁favor ▁of ▁their ▁own ▁parties , ▁though ▁only ▁Republican ▁participants ▁had ▁an ▁increase ▁that ▁was ▁statist ically ▁significant . ▁ ▁Though ▁research ▁has ▁shown ▁evidence ▁that ▁social ▁media ▁plays ▁a ▁role ▁in ▁increasing ▁political ▁polar ization , ▁it ▁has ▁also ▁shown ▁evidence ▁that ▁social ▁media ▁use ▁leads ▁to ▁a ▁persu asion ▁of ▁political ▁belief s . ▁An ▁online ▁survey ▁consisting ▁of ▁ 1 , 0 2 4 ▁U . S . ▁participants ▁was ▁conducted ▁by ▁Die hl , ▁We eks , ▁and ▁Gil ▁de ▁Zu ñ iga , ▁which ▁found ▁that ▁individuals ▁who ▁use ▁social ▁media ▁were ▁more ▁likely ▁to ▁have ▁their ▁political ▁belief s ▁persu aded ▁than ▁those ▁who ▁did ▁not . ▁In ▁particular , ▁those ▁using ▁social ▁media ▁as ▁a ▁means ▁to ▁receive ▁their ▁news ▁were ▁the ▁most ▁likely ▁to ▁have ▁their ▁political ▁belief s ▁changed . ▁Die hl ▁et ▁al . ▁found ▁that ▁the ▁persu asion ▁reported ▁by ▁participants ▁was ▁influenced ▁by ▁the ▁expos ure ▁to ▁diverse ▁view points ▁they ▁experienced , ▁both ▁in ▁the ▁content ▁they ▁saw ▁as ▁well ▁as ▁the ▁political ▁discuss ions ▁they ▁participated ▁in . ▁Similarly , ▁a ▁study ▁by ▁Hard y ▁and ▁colle agues ▁conducted ▁with ▁ 1 8 9 ▁students ▁from ▁a ▁Mid western ▁state ▁university ▁exam ined ▁the ▁persu as ive ▁effect ▁of ▁watching ▁a ▁political ▁comedy ▁video ▁on ▁Facebook . ▁Hard y ▁et ▁al . ▁found ▁that ▁after ▁watching ▁a ▁Facebook ▁video ▁of ▁the ▁com ed ian / polit ical ▁comment ator ▁John ▁Oliver ▁performing ▁a ▁segment ▁on ▁his