Title: Are Social Media Driving Political Polarization?
Headings: 
Politics Articles & More
Are Social Media Driving Political Polarization?
Battles rage on Facebook and Twitter—but their influence on real-world politics is subtler than you might think.
Do we live in “filter bubbles”?
How social media shape debate
Can we build social-media bridges?
Special Event: Bridging Differences
About the Authors
Lee de-Wit
Sander van der Linden
Cameron Brick
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Content: However, decades of research testing this hypothesis has found some limitations. Although intergroup contact does tend to increase cooperation—and reduce prejudice—the positive effect may depend on important contextual factors, such as the nature of the conflict and whether the groups have equal status or a common goal. As Allport put it, sometimes more contact can lead to more trouble. That appears to be the case on Twitter. Can we build social-media bridges? So, perhaps we need to start thinking about how to structure interactions between groups on social media so that conflict becomes less likely and cooperation becomes more possible. Social media companies need to do more themselves to counter online extremism and polarization by, for example, better regulating the political targeting of ads on their platforms. However, even in the absence of change in policy or on the sites themselves, there is a lot we can do as individuals to make social media less polarized. A distinctive feature of social media is the importance of social consensus cues or online endorsement (e.g., likes, shares). Some research shows that the presence of these distinctive social cues can actually trigger decisions to select news in a way that reduces selective political exposure.