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Social Media Has Remarkably Small Impact on Americans' Beliefs, Research Finds

posted by martyb on Thursday March 28 2019, @07:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the let's-get-social dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Social media has remarkably small impact on Americans’ beliefs:

Social media had only a small influence on how much people believed falsehoods about candidates and issues in the last two presidential elections, a pair of new national studies found.

And Facebook -- which came under fire for spreading misinformation in the 2016 campaign -- actually reduced misperceptions by users in that election compared to those who consumed only other social media.

The results suggest that we need to put the dangers of social media spreading misinformation in perspective, said R. Kelly Garrett, author of the study and professor of communication at The Ohio State University.

"Given the amount of attention given to the issue, it may seem surprising that social media doesn't have a larger impact on Americans' belief in falsehoods," Garrett said.

Journal Reference:
R. Kelly Garrett. Social media’s contribution to political misperceptions in U.S. Presidential elections. PLOS ONE, 2019; 14 (3): e0213500 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213500

The study lets Facebook off the hook for influencing the 2016 election. Further, the study found, "Results showed that, overall, Republicans beliefs tended to be less accurate than those of Democrats, which made sense because the falsehoods were a prominent part of the Republican campaign strategy, Garrett said."

There you have it. It's science.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Friday March 29 2019, @08:34PM (1 child)

    by cmdrklarg (5048) Subscriber Badge on Friday March 29 2019, @08:34PM (#822020)

    You are correct, as I do think differently.

    I wasn't looking for someone's interpretation of said quote, I was looking for the ACTUAL quote you attributed to Obama, which thanks to your second link I was able to find it.

    “Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

    You can interpret that how you like, but I'm thinking that you are taking that statement WAY out of context. He is talking about protecting AMERICAN CITIZENS that happen to be of Arab or Pakistani descent. Much like Japanese Americans were NOT protected during WWII.

    I get it that you don't like Obama, but please vilify the man for the REAL shit that he did, and not bullshit like this.

    --
    The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @02:56PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @02:56PM (#822362)

    The far right is spouting fake news? Really? o_O