Building Bridges in between Echo Chambers: Empowering Young-Adults in Social Media News Consumption

Abstract

Social media has revolutionized how we access and share vast amounts of information, fundamentally altering the ways we interact, debate, and form opinions. Social media platforms have become predominant channels for information with personalization algorithms significantly shaping the content we encounter, thus, have a big impact on society. Initially, none of the social media platforms were created with the aim of delivering news. However, as their user bases expanded and their features diversified, a significant portion of their users began perceiving and using them as a news source. The research specifically focuses on the platform X (formerly Twitter), which is selected for its mission to promote and protect public conversation, positioning itself as the town square of the internet.

This thesis explores the design interventions to disrupt incidental news consumption and foster healthy discourse on social media platforms, particularly X (formerly Twitter). The literature review incorporates interdisciplinary elements, such as recommender systems, echo chambers, EU regulations, and democracy models, providing a comprehensive framework for the study. Insights from stakeholders, including politicians, non-profit organizations, and policy advisors, revealed overlooked aspects and guided the exploration of potential changes to the social media landscape. An in-depth analysis of X's features and issues informed the development of design proposals to introduce frictions in news consumption, aiming to increase exposure diversity and facilitate healthy online discourse. By analyzing qualitative data from stakeholder interviews, provotypes, and the user evaluation session, the research identifies challenges and opportunities in designing interventions.

This thesis provides design recommendations to introduce friction to incidental news consumption on social media and uncovers users’ preferences and concerns about online discussion spaces which aim to foster healthy discourses. In the end, the thesis uses these design recommendations and redesigns the initial design proposals to be able to provide a concept and solidify the recommendations for the future research.

Finally, this thesis advocates for the introduction of frictions into endless social media feeds to bridge echo chambers and enhance the diversity of viewpoints encountered. In other words, this research demonstrates that social media experiences do not always need to be seamless. Thoughtfully introduced frictions can provide moments for reflection and encourage users to engage with a broader range of perspectives, ultimately supporting a more informed and democratic society.

This work represents an initial step towards a more thoughtful and informed social media experience, contributing to a healthier democracy and a better-informed public. While the thesis acknowledges that influencing regulatory change is a long-term endeavor, it hopes to go beyond the scope of the thesis and be an influence to the future regulation practices.