Bubble reachers and uncivil discourse in polarized online public sphere.

ABSTRACT: Early optimism saw possibilities for social media to renew democratic discourse, marked by hopes for individuals from diverse backgrounds to find opportunities to learn from and interact with others different from themselves. This optimism quickly waned as social media seemed to breed ideological homophily marked by "filter bubbles" or "echo chambers." A typical response to the sense of fragmentation has been to encourage exposure to more cross-partisan sources of information. But do outlets that reach across partisan lines in fact generate more civil discourse? And does the civility of discourse hosted by such outlets vary depending on the political context in which they operate? To answer these questions, we identified bubble reachers, users who distribute content that reaches other user

SUBMITTER: Kobellarz JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11189196 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature