• About
  • Advertising
  • History
  • Staff
  • Contact

The Andersonian

The Anderson University Student Newspaper

Anderson University’s Student Newspaper

  • Campus News
  • Audio
  • Features
  • Arts & Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
  • COVID-19
You are here: Home / Opinion / Don’t fall trap to the social media echo chamber


Don’t fall trap to the social media echo chamber

October 26, 2016 by Troyer Goldman

If I were to ask your parent how they like to get their news, there is a large chance they would say television. While most Americans can identify bias on the television news networks we are all familiar with, new media can become harder to see through because it takes time to get used to and to fully understand.

One such new media is the internet. Since its commercial release in 1995, the internet has been constantly evolving and adjusting to fit its place in society. The rise of social networks illustrates the changing environment of the internet. Today, 80 percent of American adults get their news often from online sources.

So, where do you get your information? More than likely, as an 18 to 29 year old at university, you get your news from social media. Two-thirds of all Facebook users reportedly get their news from the social network. The dangerous side to this is that 64 percent of social media news consumers only get their news from one site, where their feed becomes their sole news aggregator.

Having single sources for one’s information can lead to a very one-sided frame of mind, thus warping one’s views. Political scientists have a theory about rooms of like-minded people that, given little to no difference in opinions among a group, that group is likely to become more ideologically extreme. This has been observed in both conservative and liberal groups, each becoming more extreme. These groups are called echo chambers.

There have been many recent studies about the digital hyper-partisan echo chambers that exist on social media. Most recently, Buzzfeed News published an analysis of Facebook pages. They took six large hyper-partisan Facebook pages selected from the right and from the left and three large mainstream pages. They found that the more partisan or misleading a post was, the more shares, reactions, and comments it generated on Facebook. This amplifies the effects of political radicalization, on both sides of the political spectrum, and further polarizes an already toxic partisan environment that ails America.

Even the news that Facebook recommends to users fuels misinformation. There were unsubstantiated accusations earlier this year that criticized Facebook of suppressing conservative sources on its Trending Topics tab. The accusations were confusing human “news curators” with an indiscriminate algorithm.

The system works by logging the number of mentions of a topic and the level of engagement the posts received to identify trends. The system runs solely on the algorithm, leaving the Trending Topics tab to repeatedly pedal conspiracy theories and highlight articles with inaccurate or false information. Simply put, algorithms cannot choose reliable sources, and Facebook’s Trending Topics tab is a marked example of such. It comes down to the dire need for fact-checking on the internet.

Fact-checking has been a growing field, with considerably more importance under the circumstances of the 2016 presidential election. Google has recently integrated fact checking with their Google News service. Richard Gingras, Google’s head of news, announced, “We’re excited to see the growth of the Fact Check community and to shine a light on its efforts to divine fact from fiction, wisdom from spin.” Tags have now been implemented under the titles of news articles in a Google search, linking to relevant fact checks by independent fact-checking organizations. Facebook, while becoming an increasingly important news aggregate, has yet to implement such a system.

This proposal of factual analysis comes from the idea of checks and balances. While the press is not a branch of government, it is the role of journalism within the freedoms in American democracy is to serve as a check and balance to power and politics. The press serves the role of watchdog, and aims to inform the populace, to discern fact from fiction.

Troyer is a freshman political science and journalism major from Florida.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Opinion

Watch

Jacey Crawford discusses the breaking news that classes will be virtual for the remainder of the semester, beginning Nov. 16.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Jacey Crawford discusses the recent esports win and talks with Dr. Sarah Neal, Lead of AU’s COVID-19 Task Force.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

More Video

Listen

Raven Watch 2020-12-07

On this episode of the Raven Watch Podcast, Jordan is joined by former Big Ten Player of the Year and Indiana Pacer Clark Kellogg as they discuss displaying your faith in sports, Clark’s career as a player and broadcaster and his game of “H.O.R.S.E.” with President Obama.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Raven Watch 2020-12-03

On this episode, Jordan Yaney sits down with senior soccer player Drew Sonnefeldt to discuss his soccer career, trips to Europe, hobbies, and dreams of playing professional soccer

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Raven Watch 2020-09-24

In the third Raven Watch Podcast, Jordan Yaney talks with Hannah Hawkins, a senior basketball player, about starting her freshman year 0-25, becoming more of a leader on the team and facing their one-on-one battle on the court freshman year. Thanks to our sponsor, the Folgate Agency. Please contact Steve Folgate for Allstate insurance and […]

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Raven Watch 2020-09-18

In the second-ever Raven Watch Podcast, Jordan Yaney talks with Kennedy Parker, a senior baseball player, about finding out last season was canceled while the team was in Florida, why he decided to come back for a fifth year and play and what he expects out of this year’s team.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

More Audio

Follow

andersonianAndersonian@andersonian·
16 Jan

Check out these pictures from the Men's Basketball game on Thursday: https://andersonian.smugmug.com/AUMBB-01142021/

Reply on Twitter 1350570022108860423Retweet on Twitter 13505700221088604232Like on Twitter 13505700221088604236Twitter 1350570022108860423
andersonianAndersonian@andersonian·
8 Dec

After several weeks of searching for a new esports head coach, AU has filled the position. Learn more about Head Coach Matthew Burnstedt: https://andersonian.com/2020/12/08/au-hires-new-esports-head-coach/

Reply on Twitter 1336445599244292096Retweet on Twitter 13364455992442920961Like on Twitter 13364455992442920963Twitter 1336445599244292096
Retweet on TwitterAndersonian Retweeted
AURavenWatchRaven Watch@AURavenWatch·
7 Dec

Check out the new Raven Watch Podcast with former @Pacers forward Clark Kellogg (@ClarkKelloggCBS). Tune in as Clark and @jordanyaney discuss faith in sports, his career as a player and broadcaster, and his game of H.O.R.S.E against President Obama.

LINK https://andersonian.com/2020/12/07/raven-watch-2020-12-07/

Reply on Twitter 1336095317591265291Retweet on Twitter 13360953175912652918Like on Twitter 133609531759126529114Twitter 1336095317591265291
Load More...

The Andersonian, the student newspaper of Anderson University, Anderson, Ind., publishes a print edition and maintains this website. As a matter of institutional policy, the University administration does not review or edit Andersonian content prior to publication. The student editors are responsible for both print and online content. While the administration recognizes the role of the student press on a college campus and in journalism education, the views expressed in the Andersonian are not necessarily those of Anderson University.

© Andersonian 2017, All rights reserved · Site by Mere
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.