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Breaking the social media prism : how to make our platforms less polarizing / Chris Bail.

By: Bail, Christopher [author.].
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2021]Copyright date: �2021Description: 1 online resource (vii, 232 pages).Content type: text Media type: computer Carrier type: online resourceISBN: 9780691216508; 0691216509.Subject(s): Social media | Social media and society | Social media -- Influence | Polarization (Social sciences) | Social Media | M�edias sociaux | M�edias sociaux et soci�et�e | Polarisation collective | social media | SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Media Studies | Social media -- Influence | Polarization (Social sciences) | Social media | Social media and societyGenre/Form: Electronic books.Additional physical formats: Print version:: Breaking the social media prism.DDC classification: 302.231 Online resources: Click here to access online
Contents:
The legend of the echo chamber -- Why not break our echo chambers? -- What happens when we break them? -- The social media prism -- How the prism drives extremism -- How the prism mutes moderates -- Should I delete my account? -- Hacking the prism -- A better social media.
Summary: A revealing look at how user behavior is powering deep social divisions online--and how we might yet defeat political tribalism on social media. In an era of increasing social isolation, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are among the most important tools we have to understand each other. We use social media as a mirror to decipher our place in society but, as Chris Bail explains, it functions more like a prism that distorts our identities, empowers status-seeking extremists, and renders moderates all but invisible. Breaking the Social Media Prism challenges common myths about echo chambers, foreign misinformation campaigns, and radicalizing algorithms, revealing that the solution to political tribalism lies deep inside ourselves. Drawing on innovative online experiments and in-depth interviews with social media users from across the political spectrum, this book explains why stepping outside of our echo chambers can make us more polarized, not less. Bail takes you inside the minds of online extremists through vivid narratives that trace their lives on the platforms and off--detailing how they dominate public discourse at the expense of the moderate majority. Wherever you stand on the spectrum of user behavior and political opinion, he offers fresh solutions to counter political tribalism from the bottom up and the top down. He introduces new apps and bots to help readers avoid misperceptions and engage in better conversations with the other side. Finally, he explores what the virtual public square might look like if we could hit "reset" and redesign social media from scratch through a first-of-its-kind experiment on a new social media platform built for scientific research. Providing data-driven recommendations for strengthening our social media connections, Breaking the Social Media Prism shows how to combat online polarization without deleteing our accounts
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Includes bibliographical references and index.

A revealing look at how user behavior is powering deep social divisions online--and how we might yet defeat political tribalism on social media. In an era of increasing social isolation, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are among the most important tools we have to understand each other. We use social media as a mirror to decipher our place in society but, as Chris Bail explains, it functions more like a prism that distorts our identities, empowers status-seeking extremists, and renders moderates all but invisible. Breaking the Social Media Prism challenges common myths about echo chambers, foreign misinformation campaigns, and radicalizing algorithms, revealing that the solution to political tribalism lies deep inside ourselves. Drawing on innovative online experiments and in-depth interviews with social media users from across the political spectrum, this book explains why stepping outside of our echo chambers can make us more polarized, not less. Bail takes you inside the minds of online extremists through vivid narratives that trace their lives on the platforms and off--detailing how they dominate public discourse at the expense of the moderate majority. Wherever you stand on the spectrum of user behavior and political opinion, he offers fresh solutions to counter political tribalism from the bottom up and the top down. He introduces new apps and bots to help readers avoid misperceptions and engage in better conversations with the other side. Finally, he explores what the virtual public square might look like if we could hit "reset" and redesign social media from scratch through a first-of-its-kind experiment on a new social media platform built for scientific research. Providing data-driven recommendations for strengthening our social media connections, Breaking the Social Media Prism shows how to combat online polarization without deleteing our accounts

1. The legend of the echo chamber -- 2. Why not break our echo chambers? -- 3. What happens when we break them? -- 4. The social media prism -- 5. How the prism drives extremism -- 6. How the prism mutes moderates -- 7. Should I delete my account? -- 8. Hacking the prism -- 9. A better social media.

Online resource; title from digital title page (ProQuest Ebook Central, viewed September 29, 2021).

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