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Did they really draw a different conclusion? Facebook found the same effect as described in this article. People are friends with those who are similar to them
by Aloisius 15y ago
Did they really draw a different conclusion?
Facebook found the same effect as described in this article. People are friends with those who are similar to them.
Information is widely shared between friends. It is only because people have so many acquaintances that information is spread into clusters of close friends. However, that information flow from acquaintances isn't increasing the diversity of beliefs within a cluster of friends. If it was, then you would see clusters of friends with diverse beliefs which has previously been demonstrated to not be the case.
- underwater 15y agoI think so. The Wired article completely dismisses any benefit from our lose associations by saying that we are only shaped by the opinions of our close friends. The Facebook article says that we are actually exposed to the diverse opinions offered by our associates more than those of our close friends. The example given in the Wired article about the two universities in Kansas implies that the students at the larger university, who are surrounded by a more diverse students but who have close friends similar to themselves, are exposed to less diverse opinions. That is never actually proven in the article.