Selective Exposure in the Age of Social Media: Endorsements Trump Partisan Source Affiliation When Selecting News Online
Abstract
Much of the literature on polarization and selective exposure presumes that the internet exacerbates the fragmentation of the media and the citizenry. Yet this ignores how the widespread use of social media changes news consumption. Social media provide readers a choice of stories from different sources that come recommended from politically heterogeneous individuals, in a context that emphasizes social value over partisan affiliation. Building on existing models of news selectivity to emphasize information utility, we hypothesize that social media’s distinctive feature, social endorsements, trigger several decision heuristics that suggest utility. In two experiments, we demonstrate that stronger social endorsements increase the probability that people select content and that their presence reduces partisan selective exposure to levels indistinguishable from chance.
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In social media, individuals often consume news from ideologically misaligned sources when it is recommended by their friends.
“Further, in the context of social media, Messing and Westwood (2014) found that individuals often consume news from ideologically misaligned sources when it is recommended by their friends.”
From Do Search Algorithms Endanger Democracy? An Experimental Investigation of Algorithm Effects on Political Polarization (2020) · cites this paper as Messing and Westwood (2014)
Social endorsement reduces partisan selectivity toward like-minded information, so social media use is an opportunity to increase users' exposure to a variety of news and politically diverse information.
“As social endorsement reduces partisan selectivity toward like-minded information, social media use is an opportunity to”
From Do Search Algorithms Endanger Democracy? An Experimental Investigation of Algorithm Effects on Political Polarization (2020) · cites this paper as Messing & Westwood, 2014
Social endorsement trumps partisan selectivity in shaping individuals' choice of what information to consume.
“In addition to the internal motivation toward accuracy and understanding, social endorsement trumps partisan selectivity in shaping individuals' choice of what information to consume (Messing & Westwood, 2014).”
From Do Search Algorithms Endanger Democracy? An Experimental Investigation of Algorithm Effects on Political Polarization (2020) · cites this paper as Messing & Westwood, 2014
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“…media consumption to congruent sources is made easier by Facebook and other platforms because they employ algorithms aimed at keeping people online by directing them to sources that are similar to those they have sought out (Bode, 2012; Lee & Ma, 2011; Messing & Westwood, 2014; Tsfati, 2010).”
- Authors
- Messing, S., & Westwood, S. J.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Venue
- Communication Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-12-31
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1042-1063
- ISSN
- 0093-6502 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3810
- OpenAlex
- W2137488413
- Cited by
- 902
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 46 · 2025: 64 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 72 · 2022: 85 · 2021: 102 · 2020: 137 · 2019: 105 · 2018: 92 · 2017: 60 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 49.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Communication Research (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
- Keywords
- selective exposure, social media, news consumption, social endorsement, political polarization, decision heuristics, information utility, media fragmentation
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