Commentary about blog "echos": Echo on Echo

"ideological echo chambers"

Haha (needing a smiley emoticon here!) Echo!: "..interesting is the study’s secondary finding. Political posts rich in moral and emotional content may spread faster and wider than other kinds of political messages"

This blog is proof about how difficult it is to be fresh and original on social media.  Although my blogs certainly aren't eligible for an originality award, I did have the wrong minded opinion about the series I labeled as "Echoes". This was the subtitle I used to describe my method to reinforce certain "letters to the editors", found in randomly read newspapers.

Coincidentally, I was "randomly cursing" the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, when I found this opinion article about social media and "Echoes".  Who knew? 

Echo, echo: The power of new social media to reinforce- An editorial board "echo"

A psychology study published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science has shown that political messages on social media containing “moral and emotional language” diffuse far faster than political posts on more morally neutral topics.

For example, an impassioned rant about proposed gun control legislation is much more likely to “go viral” than an evenhanded analysis of the effects of cutting interest rates in the current economic climate.

More interesting is the study’s secondary finding. Political posts rich in moral and emotional content may spread faster and wider than other kinds of political messages — but very rarely so wide as to penetrate the conversation on the other side.

Pundits have long warned of social networking’s tendency to create “ideological echo chambers,” which constantly reinforce users’ existing beliefs while insulating them from arguments on the other side. Indeed, most people can attest to the effect themselves from a glance over their own newsfeeds. But, until now, there has been little empirical grounding for these concerns.

The proof is important because, without it, it was all too easy to dismiss the worriers as heirs to a long tradition of doomsaying when a new medium of expression gains a large, young following. TV was debasing popular and political culture before the internet, and the radio before TV, etc. — the pattern stretches back to the printing press. Yet if these findings are correct, this moment is different.

MaineWriter: In my opinion, the way to counter this "Echoes" momentum is to train social media wonks with the opportunity to achieve a certain status, so people can determine their credibility. An "echo" blogger, like me, would have to apply for this credential and it would involve training and certification. Included in this process would be an ethical promise to support promoting "echoes" that contribute to protecting Free Speech and supporting the public's right to access credible information.