Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook

TLDR

Social media is an increasingly common source of news, opinion, and civic information. The study investigates how online networks influence exposure to ideologically diverse perspectives. Using deidentified data from 10.1 million U.S. Facebook users, the authors measured ideological homophily in friend networks, evaluated potential exposure to cross‑cutting content from heterogeneous friends, and quantified how algorithmic News Feed ranking and user click choices affect content diversity.

Abstract

Exposure to news, opinion, and civic information increasingly occurs through social media. How do these online networks influence exposure to perspectives that cut across ideological lines? Using deidentified data, we examined how 10.1 million U.S. Facebook users interact with socially shared news. We directly measured ideological homophily in friend networks and examined the extent to which heterogeneous friends could potentially expose individuals to cross-cutting content. We then quantified the extent to which individuals encounter comparatively more or less diverse content while interacting via Facebook's algorithmically ranked News Feed and further studied users' choices to click through to ideologically discordant content. Compared with algorithmic ranking, individuals' choices played a stronger role in limiting exposure to cross-cutting content.