\n
One of the best things about social media \u2013 whether you prefer Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or some platform I haven\u2019t heard of yet \u2013 is that it\u2019s personalised.<\/p>\n
The people, pages and topics you see are either those that you\u2019ve selected, or that the platform has selected for you.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also one of the worst things about social media \u2013 possibly the very worst. Unlike, say, a newspaper or radio station, the world view you get from your social media feeds is just for you. It reflects your interests, as well as your biases. It serves up opinions and news stories from people just like you.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re not careful, it can be easy to believe that everyone thinks just like you do \u2013 because opinions just like yours are all you\u2019re seeing online.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not hard to see the consequences of this. Three elections ago, I remember seeing people genuinely surprised that National won because, \u201cno one supports John Key.\u201d While that was probably true in their suburbs and their self-selected Facebook feeds, the polls told a different story.<\/p>\n
Spend enough time scrolling through your own Facebook feed and it can be easy to believe that everyone despises Jacinda Ardern. Or Judith Collins. Or that guy who made his daughter teach herself to open a can of beans.<\/p>\n
In the United States, the digital tribalism runs even deeper. Political parties and news organisations capitalise on this, serving stories and ads that further reinforce the belief that \u201ceveryone thinks like me\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hardly surprising, then, that more than a few Republicans believe the recent election was stolen rather than won.<\/p>\n
Like most social media issues, the idea of a self-selected bubble isn\u2019t completely new, or confined to social media. In the US, right-leaning viewers will find their world view reinforced on Fox News, while more liberal listeners will be at home on PBS. In the UK, readers have long been able to choose a daily newspaper that reflects their politics.<\/p>\n
As Billy Bragg pointed out in his 1983 song\u00a0It Says Here: \u201cWhen you wake up to the fact that your paper is Tory, just remember, there are two sides to every story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here in New Zealand, our smaller media market has meant newspapers and TV stations (radio stations not so much) have had to play something of a straighter bat.<\/p>\n
Newspapers and TV, though, aren\u2019t where we\u2019re spending our time. Comprehensive research from NZ On Air last year showed time spent watching YouTube overtaking broadcast TV for the first time, as daily reach of all traditional media continued to decline.<\/p>\n
Digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are increasingly the first place we turn for news and opinion. The world view that they present matters.<\/p>\n
So how do we make sure that picture isn\u2019t just a reflection of our own interests and prejudices?<\/p>\n
The short answer is that we can\u2019t. Personalisation is baked into social media platforms. They rely on it for targeting advertising so it\u2019s not going away.<\/p>\n
We can be aware of that, though. We can keep reminding ourselves that when we see a story in our feeds it\u2019s there because we\u2019re likely to respond to it \u2013 not because it\u2019s worthy, important or even true.<\/p>\n
The second step is a bit harder, but it\u2019s one I\u2019ve been trying to do since joining Twitter a few years back. I call it nose-to-tail tweeting.<\/p>\n
Rather than just follow people I like and agree with, I try to also follow people with different views and backgrounds. I know, of course, that Twitter itself will never be a decent reflection of society, but following people with different takes on the world will at least broaden my view of it.<\/p>\n
Sometimes this just means following people I\u2019m unlikely to meet or hear from otherwise. And sometimes, as the nose-to-tail name implies, it means following arseholes.<\/p>\n
And I do. So every day, amongst the tweets about things I\u2019m into (aeroplanes and food, basically) I see tweets from bigots, racists, homophobes, sexists, political extremists of all varieties and even people who prefer Marmite to Vegemite.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t like them or agree with them. But the alternative is to create my own perfect digital world, where arseholes and their views don\u2019t exist, and everyone shares my opinions, biases and politics.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not real, and it\u2019s not healthy. Shutting people out from your digital world might make them invisible, but it doesn\u2019t make them any less real.<\/p>\n
A social media feed featuring ideas you disagree with \u2013 or even despise \u2013 might not be as comforting or enjoyable as your current one. So if you\u2019re happy to pay for bliss with ignorance, that\u2019s your choice.<\/p>\n
For me, though, if being challenged, offended and sometimes disgusted is the price of getting a glimpse of the world outside my bubble, I\u2019ll pay it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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