Such an interesting article!
I'm not sure how I feel about it though. Facebook is only as powerful and manipulative as it is because we have allowed it to be that powerful and manipulative. Speaking for myself, the power of Facebook over my political views is only as great as my usage of and reliance on Facebook is. I don't rely on it or expect it to be my source of reliable political information (again, speaking only for myself). There's too much potential for algorithm distortion, as the article makes clear (and too much gratuitous political debate which, in my opinion, is often more about people venting than having a constructive dialogue). As such, I don't have any expectations on how it presents political information and don't hold it to high ethical standards in terms of political news reporting. I know many people though who try, and do succeed in having good political dialogues on Facebook, and appreciate that their views would be different from mine.
-- AlexiaBedat - 21 Apr 2016 |