Twitter’s Echo Chamber and Question 1
Firstly, I acknowledge my own complacency. I got lazy. Perhaps my horrible track record is partly to blame. I’ve done volunteer work for exactly two political campaigns: John Kerry’s election bid, and Tom Allen’s senatorial run. Perhaps part of it is because I’m afraid of talking to strangers both in person and on the phone, especially when discussing politics. I know they’re lame excuses.
My Overconfidence
I knew the polls said it would be close. Still, when I went to bed last night, I knew that the following morning, I’d be bragging on Twitter to all of my non-Maine followers about how cool, enlightened, and progressive my home state was. I’d be virtually high-fiving all my “tweeps” and smugly looking down at California and all the other states that shunned equality. The turnout was higher than expected, and that could only be good, right?
The “Echo Chamber”
Twitter and other social networks have been accused of being an “echo chamber.” Sometimes it’s difficult to tease out an original thought or dissenting opinion amidst all the regurgitation and self-congratulatory noise. It’s particularly evident to me while a social-media conference is in full swing (e.g., #sxsw, #140conf, #tbc09); a popular speaker will make a witty twist of a phrase, and twenty people will retweet it in fawning approval.
The effect is amplified when you follow people who think the same way that you think. The conversation becomes an expression of camaraderie, and an affirmation of one’s own feelings. But it’s a dangerous mistake to confuse this camaraderie for the tide of public opinion.
Could I have done more?
I saw people like my twitter-hero @AlexSteed rounding up twitter friends and canvassing neighborhoods in Westbrook to get out the vote. Thank you Alex, and everyone else who actually hit the streets and did real work to try to see this thing through. Those of us who were content with the ego rush of seeing our #NoOn1 #marryme tweets get retweeted have learned a hard lesson. Twitter has made the world (and Maine) feel like a smaller place, but it’s still pretty big out there. The slice of Maine we surround ourselves with is comfortable, but it’s way too easy to let the echo chamber lull us into a false sense of security.
Fighting the Echo Chamber
Chris Pirillo wrote an insightful post on how to eliminate the echo chamber (isn’t it ironic that I’m perpetuating the echo chamber by linking to this?). At number eight on his list is “Make Yourself Uncomfortable.” It’s great advice. That’s what I did when I volunteered for those other campaigns. That’s what I did when I came out of my social-anxiety shell and attended my first tweetup (where I knew nobody in real life). And that’s probably what I should’ve done this time.
We shall overcome
It takes years of questioning and rebelling against the previous generations’ outmoded ideas to make progress. We’ll get there someday.
November 4th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Right on, Mike. Nicely said. The space around us is full of people who disagree with us, and they are often nice, well-meaning people despite any attempts to dehumanize and abstract them into a caricature of enemies. It can even be more interesting to _really_ talk with them than the people who pat us on the back.