Is it possible to maximize the diversity of exposure in a social network?

Social media today depends on building echo chambers (a.k.a filter bubbles) that gather users in like-minded digital communities. These bubbles create higher levels of engagement, but come with pitfalls - current algorithms used by social media mean that people more often encounter news stories and information that they enjoy - the effect can decrease a person’s exposure to diverse opinions and perspectives. To enable a healthy environment for information sharing, social deliberation, and opinion formation, citizens need to be exposed to sufficiently diverse viewpoints that challenge their assumptions, instead of being trapped inside filter bubbles.

In the paper ‘Maximizing the Diversity of Exposure in a Social Network’, assist. prof. Cigdem Aslay and collaborators from Aalto University propose a novel approach to maximize the diversity of exposure in a social network. Read the full paper at: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9262054