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Beyond Filter Bubbles and Echo Chambers: The Integrative Potential of the Internet
Jenseits von Filterblasen und Echokammern: Das integrative Potenzial des Internets
[habilitation treatise]
Abstract Are online audiences today fragmented into echo chambers or filter bubbles? Do users only see what digital platforms (like search engines or social media) let them see? And if so, what are the consequences for the cohesion of a society? Concerns like these abound in recent years. They attest to wide... view more
Are online audiences today fragmented into echo chambers or filter bubbles? Do users only see what digital platforms (like search engines or social media) let them see? And if so, what are the consequences for the cohesion of a society? Concerns like these abound in recent years. They attest to widely held assumptions about a negative influence of digital media or even the Internet in general on society. Empirical studies on these phenomena are, however, not as unequivocal. To understand why results from previous research are so far inconclusive, this study investigates the role of the Internet for social integration from a more general point of view. The integrative potential of the Internet is assessed to compare it with other media and ultimately better understand to what degree and due to which factors the Internet may or may not help bring society together. Using survey data, clickstream data on actual usage of websites, and data on content structures, the present work investigates how user behavior and structural features of the Internet determine its positive or negative effects on social integration. The results reveal that the Internet in general is not as bad as popular accounts of digital fragmentation may suggest. How much integrative potential can be realized via online offerings, however, depends on numerous factors on the side of the users as well as content and platform providers.... view less
Keywords
integration; Internet; utilization; Federal Republic of Germany; recipient research; fragmentation; interactive media; empirics; social media; audience; online media; mass communication; content analysis; survey research; empirical research; digital media; media
Classification
Impact Research, Recipient Research
Interactive, electronic Media
Sociology of Communication, Sociology of Language, Sociolinguistics
Free Keywords
Filter Bubbles; Echo Chambers; Massively Overlapping Culture; Clickstream data; Survey; YouTube; Spiegel Online; Medieninhalte
Document language
English
Publication Year
2019
City
Berlin
Page/Pages
246 p.
Series
Digital Communication Research, 5
ISSN
2198-7610
ISBN
978-3-945681-05-3
Status
Primary Publication; peer reviewed