Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing

A revealing look at how user behavior is powering deep social divisions online-and how we might yet defeat political
tribalism on social media In an era of increasing social isolation, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are among the most important tools we have to understand each other. We use social
media as a mirror to decipher our place in society but, as Chris
Bail explains, it functions more like a prism that distorts our
identities, empowers status-seeking extremists, and renders
moderates all but invisible. Breaking the Social Media
Prism challenges common myths about echo chambers, foreign
misinformation campaigns, and radicalizing algorithms, revealing
that the solution to political tribalism lies deep inside
ourselves. Drawing on innovative online experiments and in-depth
interviews with social media users from across the political
spectrum, this book explains why stepping outside of our echo
chambers can make us more polarized, not less. Bail takes you
inside the minds of online extremists through vivid narratives that trace their lives on the platforms and off-detailing how they
dominate public discourse at the expense of the moderate majority. Wherever you stand on the spectrum of user behavior and political opinion, he offers fresh solutions to counter political tribalism from the bottom up and the top down. He introduces new apps and
bots to help readers avoid misperceptions and engage in better
conversations with the other side. Finally, he explores what the
virtual public square might look like if we could hit “reset” and redesign social media from scratch through a first-of-its-kind
experiment on a new social media platform built for scientific
research. Providing data-driven recommendations for strengthening our social media connections, Breaking the Social Media
Prism shows how to combat online polarization without deleting our accounts.