Echo chambers, filter bubbles and political polarisation

past vs now

picture Tiannamen square:
- seen by everyone, spread by mass media distributed through one channel
=> centralised mass communication paradigm

picture fire:
- everyone has own mobile phone, can see and spread what happens
- everyone is a "produmer" (producer + consumer)
- harder to place individuals in a certain role

political polarisation

the divergence of political attitudes away from the centre, towards ideological extremes
1. ideological polarisation
2. affective polarisation
=> can also affect who do you prefer to love/ marry

affective polarisation

assesses the extent to which people like (or feel warmth towards) their political allies and dislike (feel the lack of warmth towards) their political opponents (Iyengar, 2012)

political polarisation and new media

some studies state that social media facilitates self-segregation and some studies state that social media increases the exposure to political disagreement
- important factor is network homophily and that it can be associated with the extreme positions
- network heterogeneity can be associated with political tolerance

homophily

tendency for people to form social networks, including friendships, marriage, business relationships, and many other types of relationships, with others who are similar

hetergeneity

state of being dissimilar, composition from unlike elements

filter bubbles

spaces where we are exposed only to ideas and opinions that match our existing beliefs
- AI influences how you think/ what you see

networked political communication

- traditional triangle between politicians/ journalists and citizens
- now it is harder to place people in roles, as politicians have become their own gatekeepers (so do citizens) and "everyone" can take on the journalism role
- social media can be used by politicians to spread their ideologies (eg., Donald Trump) and to call for uprisings (e.g., storming The Capitol)

ideological polarisation

divergence of political opinions, beliefs, attitudes and stances of political adversaries (Dalton, 1987)

characteristics of filter bubbles

1. you are alone it it
2. it is invisible
3. you do not choose to enter the bubble (involuntary entry)