The Welfare Effects of Social Media

Allcott, Hunt; Braghieri, Luca; Eichmeyer, Sarah; Gentzkow, Matthew

doi:10.1257/aer.20190658

Cited by 512 publications

(332 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…However, portions of these same results hint at the possibility of at least some contribution of internet use. And Allcott et al's (2019) direct intervention study confirms this possibility, at least over short time scales of personal internet use. At the individual level, not using Facebook for four weeks, results in significant, and non-trivial sized, decreases in polarization surrounding political opinions and policy preferences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…The most thorough, most recent, and really only study directly intervening on internet use and measuring the effect on subsequent polarization comes from Allcott, Braghieri, Eichmeyer, & Gentzkow (2019). In their study, they paid Facebook users to quit the platform (Facebook) in the four weeks prior to the 2018 U.S. midterm election and then compared polarization in this group to a control group.…”

Section: Direct Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, most analyses would marshal against a version of reality where the rise in the political polarization in recent decades is mostly accounted for by the dramatic rise in internet use over this same time period. However, one notable, wellconducted, large-scale randomized direct intervention study confirms that de-activating a social media account (Facebook) resulted in significant and non-trivially sized decreases in polarization, specifically related to political opinions and policy preferences (Allcott, Braghieri, Eichmeyer, & Gentzkow, 2019). Finally, the evidence is murkiest regarding how internet use might drive polarization.…”

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confidence: 97%

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Internet Use and Political Polarization: A Review

Deri¹

2019

Preprint

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In this paper, I attempt to provide a comprehensive review of the evidence regarding the relationship between political polarization in the US and internet use. In the first part, I examine whether there has indeed been a rise in political polarization in the US in the last several decades. The remaining second and third parts deal with the relationship between polarization and internet use. I begin, in the second part, by reviewing evidence pertaining to the question of whether internet use plays a causal role in bringing about polarization. I then move, in the third part, to exploring the possible means by which internet use might bring about polarization. By analogy to cigarettes and cancer, the second part examines whether cigarette smoking causes cancer, while the third part examines how cigarette smoking causes (or might cause) cancer. One focus, in the third section, is on the most often discussed mechanism of internet-caused polarization: segregated information exposure, which corresponds to claims that polarization is driven by an internet ecosystem characterized by “echo chambers”, “filter bubbles”, and otherwise partisan information consumption and dissemination.The brief summary for each of the three parts is this. First, there is evidence that polarization has been on the rise in the U.S. in the recent decades—but it depends what you measure. When comparing Republican and Democrats, there is strongest evidence for increases in affective polarization and policy-based polarization. Second, most analyses would marshal against a version of reality where the rise in the political polarization in recent decades is mostly accounted for by the dramatic rise in internet use over this same time period. However, one notable, well-conducted, large-scale randomized direct intervention study confirms that de-activating a social media account (Facebook) resulted in significant and non-trivially sized decreases in polarization, specifically related to political opinions and policy preferences (Allcott, Braghieri, Eichmeyer, & Gentzkow, 2019). Finally, the evidence is murkiest regarding how internet use might drive polarization. With regard to polarization via segregated information exposure, claims that partisans inhabit wildly segregated “echo chambers” or “filter bubbles” are largely overstated. Nevertheless, there are significant and meaningful differences in the political content that partisans of different political orientations consume online, comparable to the degree of segregation in national print newspaper readership. Causal evidence linking this differential exposure to political polarization is not as strong as evidence that differential exposure exists. Evidence for other mechanisms of polarization is suggestive but awaits strong empirical confirmation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Section: Direct Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 97%

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Internet Use and Political Polarization: A Review

Deri¹

2019

Preprint

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“…The closest paper to our research is the experiment conducted by Allcott et al (2019). They conducted a randomized controlled trial of Facebook users where subjects in the treatment group had to deactivate their Facebook account for 1 month.…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of restricting social media usage

Collis¹,

Eggers²

2020

Preprint

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Recent research has shown that social media services create large consumer surplus. Despite their positive impact on economic welfare, concerns are raised about the negative association between social media usage and performance or well-being. However, causal empirical evidence is still scarce. To address this research gap, we conduct a randomized controlled trial among students in which we track participants’ digital activities over the course of three quarters of an academic year. In the experiment, we randomly allocate half of the sample to a treatment condition in which social media usage is restricted to a maximum of 10 minutes per day. We find that participants in the treatment group substitute social media for instant messaging and do not decrease their total time spent on digital devices. Contrary to findings from previous correlational studies, we do not find any impact of social media usage on well-being and academic success. Our results also suggest that antitrust authorities should consider instant messaging and social media services as direct competitors before approving acquisitions.

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“…Die Forschungsergebnisse insgesamt sind jedoch uneinheitlich. Während eine der seltenen Längsschnittstudien auf Twitter eine depolarisierende Wirkung durch heterogene Netzwerke in verschiedenen Ländern wie den USA, Deutschland und Spanien nachweisen kann (Barberá 2015), liefern Studienüber die Rolle von Facebook konträre und widersprüchliche Ergebnisse (Allcott et al 2019;Beam et al 2018). Auch bezüglich des Internetzugangs insgesamt zeigt sich ein uneinheitliches Bild: Während Tewksbury und Riles (2015) einen Zusammenhang zwischen Internetnutzung und Polarisierung in den USA feststellen, argumentieren Boxell et al (2017), dass politische Polarisierung in den letzten Jahren insbesondere unter denjenigen US-Bürgern zugenommen hat, die mit der geringsten Wahrscheinlichkeit das Internet nutzen.…”

Section: Online-medienkonsum Und Polarisierungunclassified

Die Echokammer-Hypothese: Fragmentierung der Öffentlichkeit und politische Polarisierung durch digitale Medien?

Rau¹,

Stier²

2019

Preprint

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Inwiefern digitale Medien politische Prozesse beeinflussen ist eine intensiv diskutierte Frage inner- und außerhalb der Politikwissenschaft. Besondere Prominenz in dieser Debatte hat dabei die Hypothese sogenannter „Echokammern“ gewonnen, wonach digitale Medien ihre Nutzer darin bestärken, insbesondere solche Nachrichten zu beziehen, deren politische Positionierung sie teilen, und dadurch zu einer gesellschaftlichen Polarisierung beitragen. Während Echokammern in der öffentlichen Debatte zumeist unkritisch als gegeben betrachtet werden, wird das Konzept im wissenschaftlichen Diskurs zunehmend hinterfragt. Als Herausforderungen erweisen sich dabei eine schwache theoretische Aufarbeitung des Phänomens, ein stark zersplittertes Forschungsfeld und eine mangelnde Generalisierbarkeit von Forschungsergebnissen aufgrund des primären Fokus auf den US-amerikanischen Kontext. Der vorliegende Beitrag begegnet diesen Problemstellungen und gibt einen detaillierten Überblick über das Forschungsfeld. Der Literaturüberblick trägt dabei zur theoretischen Erfassung des Untersuchungsgegenstands bei, insbesondere durch eine explizite Differenzierung zwischen Fragmentierung und Polarisierung, und berücksichtigt außerdem länderspezifische Variationen. Insgesamt kommt dieser Überblick zu dem Schluss, dass die im öffentlichen Diskurs geäußerte Furcht vor einer gesamtgesellschaftlichen Fragmentierung durch digitale Medien und einer damit verbundenen politischen Polarisierung empirisch nicht unterstützt wird. So ist aufbauend auf die bisherige Forschung keine Fragmentierung öffentlicher Aufmerksamkeit entlang politischer Präferenzen feststellbar. Auch auf der Wirkungsebene der Polarisierung sprechen die bisherigen Erkenntnisse gegen die vereinfachten Annahmen der Echokammer-Hypothese. Dennoch sind die bisherigen wissenschaftlichen Befunde aufgrund von Limitationen im Datenzugang noch nicht umfassend genug. Der Beitrag verdeutlicht, dass die politische Kommunikationsforschung insbesondere von innovativen, extern validen Designs und komparativer Forschung außerhalb des US-Kontexts profitieren würde.

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The Welfare Effects of Social Media

Cited by 512 publications

References 86 publications

Internet Use and Political Polarization: A Review

Internet Use and Political Polarization: A Review

Effects of restricting social media usage

Die Echokammer-Hypothese: Fragmentierung der Öffentlichkeit und politische Polarisierung durch digitale Medien?

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