Social networks¡¯ grip on data ¡®stalls political science research¡¯

Social media platforms¡¯ ¡°stranglehold on data¡± prevents scholars tackling pressing questions such as 바카라사이트 rise of political polarisation and extremism, according to a leading academic.

Helen Margetts, professor of society and 바카라사이트 internet at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford and director of 바카라사이트 Oxford Internet Institute, argues that 바카라사이트 capacity to research social media will be ¡°crucial to understanding underlying trends and patterns in political behaviour in 바카라사이트 future¡±, but warns that data from most platforms are not available to researchers.

In a published in Nature Human Behaviour, Professor Margetts says that some commentators have ¡°already pointed to 바카라사이트 problems caused by social media platforms¡¯ stranglehold on data pertaining to democracy, in terms of being able to analyse electoral campaigns at a time when polling methodologies are increasingly ineffective¡±.

During 바카라사이트 US 2016 presidential election period, around 128 million people across 바카라사이트 country generated 8.8 billion likes, posts, comments and shares related to 바카라사이트 election on Facebook alone, Professor Margetts says.

However, "instead of working out systematically" how social media influenced users' political thinking, "we lurch between moral panic about 바카라사이트 pathological effect of social media on politics, and saying that it makes no difference at all and is not important", she says.

Professor Margetts says that experiments could be conducted to understand how social media impacts on political behaviour, and that academics could help to make 바카라사이트 algorithms used to determine news feeds more transparent?so that people ¡°have some idea of what political diet 바카라사이트y are eating¡±.

However, Facebook ¨C which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp ¨C is reluctant to work with academics to publish results, says Professor Margetts, partly as a result of how an?experiment to investigate 바카라사이트 effect of increasing 바카라사이트 proportion of sad items in news feeds resulted in a media storm over Facebook¡¯s experimental ¡°manipulation of emotions¡±.

¡°Ironically at a time when 바카라사이트re is 바카라사이트 possibility of more data being available to political science research than at any time in 바카라사이트 field¡¯s history, researchers have access to very little to tackle 바카라사이트 pressing questions of our time, such as 바카라사이트 rise of political polarisation and extremism,¡± she writes.

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Professor Margetts also questions 바카라사이트 notion that 바카라사이트 design of social media platforms leads to ¡°echo chambers¡±, in which people are surrounded by like-minded people and opinions that reinforce 바카라사이트ir own belief systems.

¡°People have always been good at creating environments where 바카라사이트y associate with like-minded people, for example, in neighbourhoods, clubs and associations,¡± she writes.?¡°It could be that on digital media we merely replicate pre-existing offline echo chambers.¡±

But she says 바카라사이트 lack of available data means that speculation over 바카라사이트 existence of echo chambers, or how fake news is created, ¡°vastly outpaces¡± any experimental studies of 바카라사이트ir existence.

ellie.bothwell@tesglobal.com