Abstract
To date, the role of user behavior in the formation of politically homogeneous online environments (oftentimes called echo chambers) is not fully understood. Building on selective exposure research, we introduce the notion of selective political friending, that is, the preference for political like-mindedness in social affiliations on social networking sites. In a pre-registered laboratory experiment with users of social networking sites in Germany (N = 199), we find that users preferably build connections with those who share their opinions toward controversial political issues. Political like-mindedness outperforms other friending criteria such as popularity or career-related fit with another user. Political friending is pronounced when individuals’ pre-existing opinions are strong. The present study points to the necessity to take the motivational complexity into account when studying phenomena linked to political homogeneity on SNS.
Funder Name
Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Funder Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100014690, Grant Number: 005-1709-0004
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© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Articles
- The role of identification and self-referencing in narrative persuasion
- Health-related communication in everyday life: Communication partners, channels, and patterns
- We’re a good match: Selective political friending on social networking sites
- Israeli media coverage of international male and female politicians: Gender and ethnopolitical aspects
- Framing pension reform in the news: Traditional versus social media
- State vs. anti-vaxxers: Analysis of Covid-19 echo chambers in Serbia
- Linking citizens’ anti-immigration attitudes to their digital user engagement and voting behavior
- Media populism and the life-cycle of the Norwegian Progress Party
- Book review
- Heijns, A. (2021). The role of Henri Borel in Chinese translation history. London, New York: Routledge. 216 pp.
- Pinchevski, A. (2019). Transmitted Wounds: Media and the Mediation of Trauma. New York: Oxford University Press. 186 pp.
- McQuail, D. & Deuze, M. (2020). McQuail’s Media & Mass Communication Theory (seventh edition). London: SAGE. 672 pp.
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Articles
- The role of identification and self-referencing in narrative persuasion
- Health-related communication in everyday life: Communication partners, channels, and patterns
- We’re a good match: Selective political friending on social networking sites
- Israeli media coverage of international male and female politicians: Gender and ethnopolitical aspects
- Framing pension reform in the news: Traditional versus social media
- State vs. anti-vaxxers: Analysis of Covid-19 echo chambers in Serbia
- Linking citizens’ anti-immigration attitudes to their digital user engagement and voting behavior
- Media populism and the life-cycle of the Norwegian Progress Party
- Book review
- Heijns, A. (2021). The role of Henri Borel in Chinese translation history. London, New York: Routledge. 216 pp.
- Pinchevski, A. (2019). Transmitted Wounds: Media and the Mediation of Trauma. New York: Oxford University Press. 186 pp.
- McQuail, D. & Deuze, M. (2020). McQuail’s Media & Mass Communication Theory (seventh edition). London: SAGE. 672 pp.