Social media is polarized, social media is polarized: Towards a new design agenda for mitigating polarization

Matti Nelimarkka; Salla Maaria Laaksonen; Bryan Semaan

doi:10.1145/3196709.3196764

Social media is polarized, social media is polarized: Towards a new design agenda for mitigating polarization

Matti Nelimarkka, Salla Maaria Laaksonen, Bryan Semaan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference article in proceedings › Scientific › peer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)

1219 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Social media platforms have often been described as online spaces supporting political discourse. However, online discussions are often polarized; people tend to commune with those who are ideologically similar to them. The HCI response to this phenomenon has been to purposefully expose people to diverse viewpoints. This common design agenda is supported through analysis of link sharing, yet little attention has been paid to how users discuss these links. Therefore, the common design agenda may not mitigate polarization. We study the emergent discourse in 10 Finnish migration-related Face-book groups and examine how the same links are shared and discussed across anti- and pro-migration camps. Qualitative analysis of the posts and comments revealed that shared media links do not bridge polarized groups with regard to worldviews and opinions. We then demonstrate alternative design opportunities to resolve this issue and begin to develop a new design agenda to mitigate polarization.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	DIS 2018 - Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference
Publisher	ACM
Pages	957-970
Number of pages	14
ISBN (Print)	9781450351980
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3196709.3196764
Publication status	Published - 8 Jun 2018
MoE publication type	A4 Conference publication
Event	ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems - Hong Kong, Hong Kong Duration: 9 Jun 2018 → 13 Jun 2018 http://dis2018.org/

Conference

Conference	ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems
Abbreviated title	DIS
Country/Territory	Hong Kong
City	Hong Kong
Period	09/06/2018 → 13/06/2018
Internet address	http://dis2018.org/

Keywords

Echo chambers
Filter bubble
Polarization
Selective exposure

Access to Document

10.1145/3196709.3196764

SCI_Nelimarkka_social-media-polarizedAccepted author manuscript, 1.31 MB

Cite this

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title = "Social media is polarized, social media is polarized: Towards a new design agenda for mitigating polarization",

abstract = "Social media platforms have often been described as online spaces supporting political discourse. However, online discussions are often polarized; people tend to commune with those who are ideologically similar to them. The HCI response to this phenomenon has been to purposefully expose people to diverse viewpoints. This common design agenda is supported through analysis of link sharing, yet little attention has been paid to how users discuss these links. Therefore, the common design agenda may not mitigate polarization. We study the emergent discourse in 10 Finnish migration-related Face-book groups and examine how the same links are shared and discussed across anti- and pro-migration camps. Qualitative analysis of the posts and comments revealed that shared media links do not bridge polarized groups with regard to worldviews and opinions. We then demonstrate alternative design opportunities to resolve this issue and begin to develop a new design agenda to mitigate polarization.",

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Nelimarkka, M, Laaksonen, SM & Semaan, B 2018, Social media is polarized, social media is polarized: Towards a new design agenda for mitigating polarization. in DIS 2018 - Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference. ACM, pp. 957-970, ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 09/06/2018. https://doi.org/10.1145/3196709.3196764

Social media is polarized, social media is polarized: Towards a new design agenda for mitigating polarization. / Nelimarkka, Matti; Laaksonen, Salla Maaria; Semaan, Bryan.
DIS 2018 - Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference. ACM, 2018. p. 957-970.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference article in proceedings › Scientific › peer-review

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Social media is polarized, social media is polarized: Towards a new design agenda for mitigating polarization

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