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
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https://twitter.com/IlvesToomas/status/966096207595614209
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“Inherently, however, I believe social media is a net ‘good’ for civic engagement”
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Content: 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; conservatives were initially neutral on the treaty, but came away feeling adamantly opposed. This, the Harvard professor explains, shows how engaging only with likeminded people and information can actually widen the gap between different groups, more so than having no information at all. He argues that Facebook and other social networks shouldn’t be developing a more personalized feed, but rather should seek to diversify the information you see, even going so far as to select things you likely would not have selected for yourself. Facebook’s Related Articles is one step in that direction, but more should be done to prevent social media from becoming an information cocoon, he says. Fake news
Before the internet, disinformation campaigns saw limited spread because news was shared inside publications spearheaded by editors looking to avoid lawsuits and maintain a reputation.