Media Consumption

Social media has altered the way we consume and interact with different forms of media. CSMaP experts analyze the real-world implications of our online consumption, and how it impacts the political landscape.

Research

  • Journal Article

    Like-Minded Sources On Facebook Are Prevalent But Not Polarizing

    • Brendan Nyhan, 
    • Jaime Settle, 
    • Emily Thorson, 
    • Magdalena Wojcieszak
    • Pablo Barberá
    • Annie Y. Chen, 
    • Hunt Alcott, 
    • Taylor Brown, 
    • Adriana Crespo-Tenorio, 
    • Drew Dimmery, 
    • Deen Freelon, 
    • Matthew Gentzkow, 
    • Sandra González-Bailón
    • Andrew M. Guess
    • Edward Kennedy, 
    • Young Mie Kim, 
    • David Lazer, 
    • Neil Malhotra, 
    • Devra Moehler, 
    • Jennifer Pan, 
    • Daniel Robert Thomas, 
    • Rebekah Tromble, 
    • Carlos Velasco Rivera, 
    • Arjun Wilkins, 
    • Beixian Xiong, 
    • Chad Kiewiet De Jong, 
    • Annie Franco, 
    • Winter Mason, 
    • Natalie Jomini Stroud, 
    • Joshua A. Tucker

    Nature, 2023

    View Article View abstract

    Many critics raise concerns about the prevalence of ‘echo chambers’ on social media and their potential role in increasing political polarization. However, the lack of available data and the challenges of conducting large-scale field experiments have made it difficult to assess the scope of the problem1,2. Here we present data from 2020 for the entire population of active adult Facebook users in the USA showing that content from ‘like-minded’ sources constitutes the majority of what people see on the platform, although political information and news represent only a small fraction of these exposures. To evaluate a potential response to concerns about the effects of echo chambers, we conducted a multi-wave field experiment on Facebook among 23,377 users for whom we reduced exposure to content from like-minded sources during the 2020 US presidential election by about one-third. We found that the intervention increased their exposure to content from cross-cutting sources and decreased exposure to uncivil language, but had no measurable effects on eight preregistered attitudinal measures such as affective polarization, ideological extremity, candidate evaluations and belief in false claims. These precisely estimated results suggest that although exposure to content from like-minded sources on social media is common, reducing its prevalence during the 2020 US presidential election did not correspondingly reduce polarization in beliefs or attitudes.

  • Journal Article

    Reshares on Social Media Amplify Political News But Do Not Detectably Affect Beliefs or Opinions

    • Andrew M. Guess
    • Neil Malhotra, 
    • Jennifer Pan, 
    • Pablo Barberá
    • Hunt Alcott, 
    • Taylor Brown, 
    • Adriana Crespo-Tenorio, 
    • Drew Dimmery, 
    • Deen Freelon, 
    • Matthew Gentzkow, 
    • Sandra González-Bailón
    • Edward Kennedy, 
    • Young Mie Kim, 
    • David Lazer, 
    • Devra Moehler, 
    • Brendan Nyhan, 
    • Carlos Velasco Rivera, 
    • Jaime Settle, 
    • Daniel Robert Thomas, 
    • Emily Thorson, 
    • Rebekah Tromble, 
    • Arjun Wilkins, 
    • Magdalena Wojcieszak
    • Beixian Xiong, 
    • Chad Kiewiet De Jong, 
    • Annie Franco, 
    • Winter Mason, 
    • Natalie Jomini Stroud, 
    • Joshua A. Tucker

    Science, 2023

    View Article View abstract

    We studied the effects of exposure to reshared content on Facebook during the 2020 US election by assigning a random set of consenting, US-based users to feeds that did not contain any reshares over a 3-month period. We find that removing reshared content substantially decreases the amount of political news, including content from untrustworthy sources, to which users are exposed; decreases overall clicks and reactions; and reduces partisan news clicks. Further, we observe that removing reshared content produces clear decreases in news knowledge within the sample, although there is some uncertainty about how this would generalize to all users. Contrary to expectations, the treatment does not significantly affect political polarization or any measure of individual-level political attitudes.

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News & Views

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