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The vast majority of political content on Facebook is the variety of bullshit that shows up on conservative/liberal "news" sites. Most of those sites make the e
by nmrm2 11y ago
The vast majority of political content on Facebook is the variety of bullshit that shows up on conservative/liberal "news" sites. Most of those sites make the editorial pages of places like Fox and HuffPost look positively civil and well-informed.
Does it really matter whether people read bullshit that they disagree with? Reading bullshit from either side of the political spectrum isn't really teaching anyone anything (and, moreover, isn't designed to), so why the premium on consuming all varieties of bullshit? The most likely reaction to reading bullshit you disagree with is "This Is Bullshit". Which isn't so surprising when the content really is bullshit.
For me, the more interesting question is whether people are exposed to high-quality justifications for a range of opinions. And I can't remember the last time a research paper showed up on my facebook feed.
- _lce0 11y ago> The most likely reaction to reading bullshit you disagree with is "This Is Bullshit" I wonder what do people do when they read bullshit that they agree with. Is Facebook trying to find ways to maximize how much bullshit will you agree with?
- nmrm2 11y ago> I wonder what do people do when they read bullshit that they agree with. They agree with it (maybe while realizing it's bullshit). I think among people calling for content diversity, there's a mostly explicit assumption that encountering more opinions you disagree with will cause you to either treat those opinions with more respect, or else smell bullshit on your own side of the fence more often. IME it doesn't work that way, regardless of what happens in the lab. If anything, reading bullshit you disagree with has the opposite effect -- "wow, that's a really shitty reason to believe X. People who believe X must be stupid to believe that reason." Seeing high quality justifications for opinions you disagree with or meeting people you respect who disagree with you can both lead to attitude changes and even changes of opinion. But reading punditry on the Internet? Nope. > Is Facebook trying to find ways to maximize how much bullshit will you agree with? Well definitely, because most marketing is bullshit. But I don't think that's what this paper is about.
- ikeboy 11y agoYeah, there's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inoculation_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inoculation_theory and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias