Breaking the Social Media Prism : How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing (9780691216508)

**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 deleting our accounts. "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." -- From dust jacket A data-driven explanation of the relationship between social media and political tribalism, along with an agenda for envisioning what more enlightened social media may look like. Bail argues that, while we've grown accustomed to the idea that social media platforms create a downward spiral of incivility, this notion obscures the deeper truth that users are the problem - not stuck in an all-powerful system that subconsciously shapes our views. Bail states that most people treat social media like a giant mirror that we use to understand ourselves and those around us. In reality, he argues, it functions more like a prism that reflects and refracts our identities, distorting our understanding of ourselves and each other. As our political behavior changes in predictable ways over time, we move on a contiuum toward outspoken extremism or silence. The book will build on online experiments, original surveys, and in-depth interviews with social media users gathered from Bail's Polarization Lab at Duke. At the heart of it, he argues, lies a new way to comprehend social media, and he proposes grassroot ways to put ideas before identities and to gently disrupt the status quo with behavioral nudges to combat polarization 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. Chris Bail. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Electronic Reproduction. Farmington Hills, Mich. Available Via World Wide Web.