According to US research, social media users tend to react more to political posts that challenge their opinions than to those that support their beliefs. This phenomenon, known as the "confrontation effect," is fuelled by outrage and drives people to react to opposing viewpoints. Social networks are often criticised for the way that their algorithms can trap users in bubbles of like-minded content, effectively creating echo chambers.
These are environments where users are mainly exposed to content that aligns with their opinions and beliefs, thus limiting their exposure to divergent points of view. This creates a kind of implicit content moderation, where users are locked into their own opinions, which can reduce the diversity of perspectives and encourage polarisation. Yet research conducted by Daniel Mochon, professor of marketing at Tulane University's A.
B. Freeman School of Business, and Janet Schwartz, executive director of Duke University’s Center for Advanced Hindsight, challenges these assumptions. If communities can form around shared values, this doesn't prevent users from reacting to comments that run counter to their own, even going so far as to favor this kind of interaction.
Indeed, social network users are more inclined to interact with posts that provoke them than with those that confirm their political convictions. This phenomenon, known as the "confrontation effect," is fuelled by outrage, prompting individuals to react to opposing points of view, the re.