Political polarization on Facebook

[Commentary] Data scientists at Facebook recently published their research on how people consume political news on the social network. The study is noteworthy because the researchers had direct access to Facebook’s own data. It examines the factors that influence the likelihood that liberals or conservatives will click on news articles that are cross-cutting or those that run counter to their beliefs. Many Americans get a significant portion of their news from Facebook and in effect the social network is the largest news platform in the US.

The study shows how the makeup of our social networks, the Facebook News feed algorithm, and individual user choice all influence the content people consume. Facebook has tweaked the News feed algorithm for a variety of reasons. The company could leverage the popularity of their network to help mitigate the impact of political polarization. The website could change the algorithm to rank cross-cutting news stories highly. It could also include cross cutting links in the trending section of the website. Facebook is not just a social network. It’s the platform that millions of people use to learn about current events. Taking small steps to help combat political polarization in the long run will add to the trust that users have in Facebook.