Rob Howard
Sep 7, 2018 · 1 min read

Hey Terry, thanks for reading and commenting! I don’t think I have a specific scientific study backing up this specific statement, but if you want to dig into some of the source/inspiration material for this post, check out the book The Big Sort by Bill Bishop. It actually predates a lot of the big social media changes, and focuses on physical sorting (like counties/neighborhoods becoming more liberal or more conservative), but it covers a ton of studies around echo chambers that apply really well to the web and social media. (For example, they found that if 10 people with similar but moderate opinions try to reach a “conclusion” as a group, they end up with something that’s more extreme than the average of their individual opinions because they’re all trying to “stand out” within the echo chamber.)

    Rob Howard

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