Of Twitter, Facebook, And The Social Media Echo Chamber

The social media bubble has gotten many people thinking as it popped

You are a social media enthusiast that suddenly gained some passion for politics (it's a fad). You have hundreds of friends on Facebook and a few thousand followers on Twitter and a lot of news pages liked or followed. One day you tap on that blue Facebook logo on your smartphone and get to see the poll results from a random newspaper in which Hillary Clinton triumphs over Trump, and your Democrat friends jumping off their sofas in joy. But after a week it's the election day and Donald Trump ends up being elected as the president of the USA. Shocking, really?

Facebook, Twitter, and the Social Media Echo Chamber

So, this is something really cool. Actually, when you use social media, you get to know people, a lot of them. You prefer to talk to the ones that have more similar qualities and habits as you do (psst, not everything!). You follow celebrities and pages that also happen to have a similar taste as you. Hence, pretty much everyone and everything around you is talking the same thing, forming your perception (or opinion) about something. That often goes to an extent that when you see a person of a different opinion on Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram, you feel annoyed and then, you go on and start bashing that person.  This opinion forming in an artificial environment is known as an Echo Chamber. 

What to do about it?

This is not the first time this thing has happened, though the US elections created the biggest echo chamber on Facebook and the rest of the social media. But still, it's not the first time as it has happened several times in many countries. But the problem is about finding a solution now. 

In social media there's pretty much no solution for that right now, except for Facebook attempting to either limit the the similar news/buzz on a persons' timeline, or pushing in the opposite point of view in a world so polarized when it comes to opinions. It will get even tougher on Twitter and other social media sites where articles/posts/tweets are shared more commonly by the people, creating a barrier between people and a neutral view of things.

 Where is Facebook and the Social Media heading towards?

But instead of making it any better, Facebook has been making it easier for the content to spread, no matter if the content is false, fabricated, or highly polarized. News spreads like fire these days and people dont even know if it is real, or not. Everything is so sensationalized that there's nothing you can do to keep it normal these days. These days you like a post or show your emotions on it on Facebook or Twitter and it goes BOOM. There will be thousands or retweets on any sensational article in a matter of minutes, exposing the article to millions of people with no regard to its legitimacy (bastard article form Game of Thrones, yeah). So, we can only think of a solution to scrutinize Facebook, Twitter, and rest of the social media to reduce its impact in polarization of opinions.