For years, political scientists and other social theorists have fretted about the Internet’s potential to flatten and polarize democratic discourse. Because so much information now comes through digital engines shaped by our own preferences — Facebook, Google and others suggest content based on what consumers previously enjoyed — scholars have theorized that people are building an online echo chamber of their own views.
But in a peer-reviewed study published on Thursday in the journal Science, data scientists at Facebook report that the echo chamber is not as insular as many might fear — at least not on the social network. CONT.
Farhad Manjoo, New York Times