Max Fisher

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@EvansRyan202 I did but it was for research for my own book, “read” is probably a generous word for it, and, more to the point, I hated it. Super unpleasant and unfulfilling to sprint through a pile of books like that. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@CassSunstein @WillOremus @andyguess @BrendanNyhan My mistake! — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@kevinroose @WillOremus @andyguess @BrendanNyhan Yeah. And the onus for that is obviously mostly on reporters. Maybe it’s not fair to expect social scientists to frame their work as speaking to academics and journalists simultaneously, but this topic receives so much interest that I think that’s just the reality. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@WillOremus @andyguess @BrendanNyhan I agree with that. And these studies’ conclusions do make more sense within a certain academic context, where they’re properly read as responses to Sunstein’s overheated hypothesis. (It is always Cass Suntein’s fault) — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@andyguess @BrendanNyhan That makes sense. And thank you, to you and @BrendanNyhan, for thoughtfully and patiently responding to my cranky whining. I'm very grateful for the work you both do, which as you know I turn to and rely on all the time. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@andyguess @BrendanNyhan (2) We know that people perceive news through social cues, and there's lots to suggest that social media feeds provide partisan/identity-affirming contextual cues even sharper than those we experience offline. E.g. the most-shared links are reliably hyperpartisan. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@andyguess @BrendanNyhan (1) Lots to suggest that, with near-infinite articles to pick from, people, often passively and unconsciously, selectively read and share content that is identity-affirming in the aggregate, even if individual stories and outlets are facially neutral. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@andyguess @BrendanNyhan That makes sense. I think for me the question is how those neutral/MSM links are being consumed and contextualized within e.g. personalized social media feeds. To me, feels like a lot of datapoints to suggest two things about that contextualization. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@BrendanNyhan @andyguess That’s admittedly anecdotal, but the idea that low-engagement readers filter new information thru perceived social cues is not. Looking at domain-level consumption data might be responsive to Sunstein, but not (in my anecdotal experience) to how people consume news. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@BrendanNyhan @andyguess The incongruity between overall stats looking nonpartisan and the daily top-performing posts looking hyperpartisan feels significant here. My suspicion (anecdotal!) is diets tilt MSM but selective exposure plus online/offline social cues frame info in increasingly partisan ways. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@BrendanNyhan @andyguess Re selective exposure, this is probably what you mean as well, but I think it’s subtler than hate-reading. There are probably 10,000 MSM articles published every day. Would take little effort to read an all-CNN/NYT diet that contains solely identity-affirming content. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@BrendanNyhan @andyguess Maybe I’m just seeing this through my own filter bubble, but I feel like I only encounter the Sunstein hypothesis in studies (rightly!) debunking it. I worry that hypothesis has become bit of a red herring and we might be overcorrecting as a result. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

At some point "social media filter bubble" came to be seen as implying that people read 100% Gateway Pundit or 100% Occupy Democrats, but this has always been a straw man. There was a lot of hyperbole about social media after 2016 for sure, but we might be overcorrecting a bit. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

Consider how reliably the most popular posts on Facebook are from hyper-partisan outlets. I promise you everyone reading those Ben Shapiro articles also clicked a bunch of CNN links. They probably read mostly CNN! But through a hyper-partisan social feed. https://t.co/wCWqJhMGKL — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

For one, reader diets have always been like 10-to-1 news-to-opinion. To understand polarization, you have to look at that 1 opinion article that frames how readers process the 10 news links. Or how posts on social platforms frame those 10 news links. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

Another common mistake in these studies is assuming that, if a reader clicks on more straight news links than opinion links, his/her online experience is largely nonpartisan. But this gets a couple things wrong. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

If you follow URLs back to social media, which is often how readers see the articles, you'll consistently see them framed in identity-affirming language. Goes triple for non-paywalled sites like CNN. Just bc it's not Daily Caller doesn't mean the reader experience is nonpartisan. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

If I write a story whose facts affirm liberal worldviews, it will be shared and read heavily by liberals. The next day, a different story might be shared & read by conservatives. Both groups visited the same NYT domain, but they hardly developed a shared media diet or reality. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

For one, these studies assume that if Ds and Rs are both visiting the same news sites like NYT & CNN, it must mean they have a common media diet & therefore a shared reality. But any reporter with access to their social media referral stats can tell you this is wrong. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

I keep seeing studies claiming that social media filter bubbles are overstated/nonexistent, based on surveys of peoples' news diets. But, with love and respect to @andyguess @BrendanNyhan and others, I think this severely misunderstands how people read and share new today. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

Time will tell whether it was the right move, but it feels significant that Twitter was willing to partially shut down posting. Facebook refused to turn off the platform in Myanmar when it was being used to boost a monthslong genocide! — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @nktpnd: Huh: A Bitcoin wallet thought to be associated with the neo-Nazi Andrew Auernheimer (Weev) sent $22.9k in BTC to the hacker. (?… — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

What's disturbing about this hack: if some bitcoin idiots who don't even know how to scam correctly can pull this off, imagine what better-resourced actors – violent extremists, a hostile nation-state – could do with sudden simultaneous control of these accounts. — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

This is such a bummer. https://t.co/B91Q6bZje5 — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @ishaantharoor: This may be a controversial opinion, but the NYT op-ed section is good, publishes lots of interesting, thought-provoking… — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

@poniewozik This came up on the group chat and we agreed Paulie becomes a Gates/Soros conspiracist. It's Silvio. Secretly votes Biden after an asthma scare pushes him over the line — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @EmmaMAshford: Oooh, this Brezhnev joke really stings in the era of Trump. Also, a good counterintuitive piece on great power decline.… — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

RT @dwbwriter: BIG BOX OF BOOKS! I’ve been working on this thing since 2014. I’m kind of speechless right now. Anyway it’ll be out in hardc… — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

This provocative @PeterBeinart essay explores a long-taboo question: if the two-state is dead, what should a one-state look like? Agree or disagree with his answer, I think we’ll look back on it, as with others from him, as an intellectual turning point. https://t.co/TtrlRWhMkt — PolitiTweet.org

Max Fisher @Max_Fisher

https://t.co/LDs5pVgdPB — PolitiTweet.org