I first heard of the term filter bubble a few years ago during one of my lectures during my bachelor. I found it an interesting topic as filter bubbles are everywhere, and I believe even more widespread during the pandemic. For those of you who don’t exactly know yet what a filter bubble is: you find yourself in a filter bubble, every time that you are surrounded by news and opinions that are in line with your opinion (Farnam Street, n.d.). This probably does ring a bell now, as for our generation we can easily link it to the algorithms that our favorite social media apps use. One well-known example of filter bubbles is when Trump (suddenly) won the presidential elections in 2016. A lot of people didn’t see it coming that Trump actually had won the elections as they were almost sure that Hillary Clinton would win (Baer, 2016). This happened because many people actually ‘lived’ in a filter bubble. This happened because the algorithms that are used by social media platforms like Facebook, generate a personalized timeline that is more adjusted to your preferences every time you open or like an article. The algorithm personalizes the content, which results in only content that is in line with your opinion showing up on your timeline at some point. The fact that it is so easy to surround yourself with other people who share the same opinions also reinforces the creation of filter bubbles. A lot of people tend to believe they are well-educated on certain topics because they read content all day. But the problem is that this content is so tailored to their beliefs, that it often only tells one side of the story (Baer, 2016).
Another example of when filter bubbles were a hot topic was during the peak of the pandemic when polarization occurred in society due to the different beliefs of people. Two groups were created, and more people started believing that vaccines were only causing harm and that the pandemic was a hoax. In the United States, 42% of Americans have seen a lot or some news about the coronavirus outbreak that seemed completely made up (Mitchell & Oliphant, 2020). This number is alarming, as this can be caused by people living in filter bubbles. People who questions the pandemic started clicking on some articles that agreed with their doubts, causing the algorithm to show them more and more similar articles that are in line with their opinions. This causes people to believe that what they think is true because that’s the only news they see at some point. However, the problem is that they only see a very small fraction of the actual news on the pandemic and thus barely have an idea that there are other facts that can be true.
Personally, I think this is a serious problem and one of the downsides of social media. People can start believing in their own reality and not listen to others anymore, because all they see is news that is in line with their believes. What do you guys think of it? And do you believe that there is a clear solution for the problem of filter bubbles?
References
Baer, D. (2016, November 9). The ‘Filter bubble’ explains why Trump won and you didn’t see it coming. The Cut. Available at: https://www.thecut.com/2016/11/how-facebook-and-the-filter-bubble-pushed-trump-to-victory.html (Accessed: October 13 2022)
Farnam Street (2019, November 14). How filter bubbles distort reality: Everything you need to know. Farnam Street. Available at: https://fs.blog/filter-bubbles/ (Accessed: October 13 2022)
Mitchell, A. & Oliphan, J. (2020, March 18). Americans Immersed in COVID-19 News; Most
Think Media Are Doing Fairly Well Covering It. Pew Research Center [Blog Post]. Available at:
https://www.journalism.org/2020/03/18/americans-immersed-in-covid-19-news-mostthink-media-are-doing-fairly-well-covering-it/ (Accessed: October 13 2022)
I think it was super interesting that you choose to write about this subject – it is very current and, in my opinion, a huge issue. Especially to users which rely on social media as their main source of news. This has been getting more attention lately and I think everyone should make sure to consume news from multiple, and more objective sources.
When it comes to a solution on the platforms, I think it is some way off. They are incentivised to make users click and enjoy the content – the focus is on entertainment and socialising rather than news consumption. Many online platforms also refrain from stepping in and policing the content feeling like it is not their responsibility when they did not actually publish the content. However, connected to the Trump example you brought up – we did see Twitter recently shutting down his account and it could be worth considering whether this is heralding more active content governance in social media sites?
Hi Maurizia, that is a very interesting topic! That is the perfect example of confirmation bias and an increasingly problematic topic. We see that young people are more and more relying on social media to get access to information and news, and these filter bubbles are causing important confirmation bubbles.
With regards to solutions, I don’t think that social media can do anything from their side, as the goal of their users is to reunite and interact with their friends, or communities, who are likely to be in the same filter bubble. However, I think that the best way to try to prevent this from happening is through education. Learning to cross-check, to question what is said, is the only way one can know whether or not to trust a source.
Ultimately, I believe that social media could add AI solutions which could identify when there is a serious filter bubble on a user’s feed, and maybe then suggest posts from outside of the bubble.
While this could be interesting for people that are unaware that they are in a bubble, and willing to get out of it, it could also just bring frustration and anger for people with strong opinions and no willingness to open up to other ideas.