Title: Social (Net)Work: How does social media influence democracy? | Digital Trends
Headings: Social (Net)Work: How does social media influence democracy?
Social (Net)Work: How does social media influence democracy?
The Information Cocoon
Fake news
https://twitter.com/IlvesToomas/status/966096207595614209
Bots
Dark ads
User Data
“Inherently, however, I believe social media is a net ‘good’ for civic engagement”
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Content: But social media has just as many pitfalls — some that are already being addressed, others that both social media companies and governments continue to examine. For users of social platforms, it is becoming increasingly important to be aware of these pitfalls. The Information Cocoon
Algorithmic news feeds are designed to bring you information that you’re more likely to tap the “like” button on. The basic idea was simply to understand what type of content you liked and show you more of it, which sounds innocent enough. The problem, as Harvard Law School Professor Cass R. Sunstein says, is that those same algorithms create what’s called polarization, or an information cocoon. Polarization refers to the idea that, when someone is exposed to only information that supports their own beliefs, those beliefs tend to push more towards the extremes. Sunstein points to an experiment he conducted before the explosion of social media where those in the experiment were intentionally placed in a group where every member supported the same beliefs. Conservatives were matched with other conservatives, liberals with other liberals, and both groups were asked to debate the same three topics. Afterwards, each member had a more extreme view on the subject than before entering the discussion. Those in the liberal group, for example, had already favored an international treaty to control climate change before the study, but emerged more strongly in favor of it afterwards;