Facebook — an Underrated News Outlet?

Trump’s victory on 9 November has been confusing for some and outright shocking for others. Especially major media corporations were dumbfounded at the results, given that all polls seemed to have a clear lead going for Hillary Clinton, and only a madman would even consider him a possible victor. Yet, all polls and predictions were proved wrong.

Now, a week after the election, some news outlets begin to suggest possible reasons for his success — namely Facebook. Tentatively, it seems, they realise that previous approaches on predicting election results may not be a viable method anymore. While they keep with their narrative that it was shy voters who let out their emotions on Facebook and informed themselves on certain groups in support of Trump, another aspect of the matter is rather ignored: Facebook’s algorithm creating an echo-chamber of your opinions and preferences.

Depending on your likes, dislikes, friends, and websites you visit, Facebook shows content shared by friends, groups, sites, and suggested content, shutting out differing opinions, or “irrelevant content”. Since every single one of us therefore has an individualised “homepage”, it stands to reason that a medium to which we dedicate a massive amount of our time and which knows even our subtle preferences should have a certain influence on us which is likely higher than that of traditional media.

With BREXIT, this is now the second surprise turnout of a vote in a year painting a completely new picture of how opinions are formed and how they can be predicted. Already, there are programs that proved to be more accurate in predicting the sentiment of the people. Whether this trend from mass-media generated prognoses to technological data-mining will be beneficial to the people or whether these pose a threat in their own right remains to be seen. It can be asserted, however, that Facebook should definitely receive more attention in the shaping of opinions than it is currently given credit for.