In all honestly, who isn’t guilty of this? You might think that it's not a big deal, but this article could change your mind about that. Recently, Facebook has been accused of being biased, specifically for being anti-conservative in regards to their "Trending Topics" section. As it turns out, the human editors of Facebook actually did admit to the bias. But can you really blame them? With more than 1 billion articles circulating on Facebook every day, there's no way anyone can stay sane and unbiased when combing through so much data. And before you blame Facebook, who said it was a good idea to get news from only one source anyway?
Yet according to statistics, 66% of Facebook users use the site to read news. This is according to Pew Research Center. Furthermore, according to the research center 64% of the mentioned 66% use Facebook as their only source for news.
When browsing through Facebook, it's easy to think that you are getting diverse perspectives on a topic. After all, the news comes from your friends, your family, and also from their friends. The real truth is that Facebook is not in the business of offering diverse perspectives. Facebook is in the business of generating internet activity.
Recently Facebook has replaced all their human editors who curate the articles that go to their trending section. The entire team has been swapped out with a computer algorithm. And you know what the job of the algorithm is? To get a good idea of what you like, a rough representation of your personality, and then pull out articles that will cater to your tastes. As stated, it's not Facebook's job to offer you diverse perspectives. Also, Facebook is simply not a news site so we need to stop treating it as such.
If you truly want meaningful and diverse perspectives, then here's what you can do:
Start by creating a specific folder on your mobile device or computer. Fill it with publication sources that you like.
By creating such folder, you avoid getting all your news from Facebook. Remember, you want opposing views so you can form a better opinion.
The great thing about this solution is that you don't have to download any app as most phones have the ability to create a folder.
The next time you browse a publication site, try to assess if you like the style and topics. If you do, simply add them to your home screen. For iPhone users, you can do this by tapping the arrow icon, one that looks like it's pointing forward from a rectangle base. The option "add to home screen" should appear.
If you are an Android user and you use Chrome for browsing, tap the three dots found in the top right corner. The "add to home screen" option should appear.
Then, from the home screen, just move the icons to your news folder. Now, all you have to do is simply open the folder and click on the icons one by one. The icons will open the publication site. You already have a news feed system that gives you different perspectives and can help you avoid relying on Facebook for all your news.
