Cultural Conformity Of Social Media

In a society motivated by cultural conformity, social media plays a large role in the expansion of ideas. Cultural comfort stems from the notion that internet consumers have a choice of what they view online. This form of internet tailoring is known as “Tribalism.” This term refers to the ties that humans have to various groups, whether that be religious, or political. This form of sectarianism only hinders our ability to form accurate opinions on issues, therein diluting our potential to make rational decisions. Tampering with the access to credible sources of information goes against the core values that companies such as Facebook and Twitter obsessively deny. Whether by choice, or software, conforming to a set of ideas through internet tailoring

Companies such as Facebook and Twitter hold a large influence on what politician gets elected, and who doesn't. In an article written by Maeve Duggan and Aaron Smith, writers for Pew Research, they state that “Facebook and Twitter are equally likely to encounter political material and to engage in political discussions.” This suggests that those politicians that actively use social media have a higher chance of being elected, the reason being that their followers and users on the site are exposed to their ideas creating a memory of them to later use. Duggan and Smith also mention the effect of spreading political news without having connections to politics. Smith and Duggan write, “Despite these differences in the types of people they follow (and Twitter’s long-standing reputation as the domain of news and politics junkies), users of each platform report that they encounter a similar level of political content and discussion.” Without having ties to politics, user of the sites have direct access to information regardless of their interests. This content, although small, creates tribal like beliefs that influence their decisions at a later

When large companies such as Facebook data mine, and tailor news sources to their users, they actively enforce the effect of tribalism onto their customers. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg writes to Facebook Users that, “In times like these, the most important thing we at Facebook can do is develop the social infrastructure to give people the power to build a global community that works for all of us.” Zuckerberg goes on to mention tribes, “from tribes to cities to nations. At each step, we built social infrastructure.” His plan is simple, create a community that fits the needs of all involved. Through Facebook's algorithm, they are allowed to search through our private data, and pull out our interests and likes to fit us into what they call their “Global communities.” In an article written by blogger Andrew Tate, Facebook uses a complex algorithm to market ads and our news sources towards us. Tate writes that Facebook scans our computers for data such as credit card info, credit rating, home ownership, income, and even what make and model car a user might own. Through this system Facebook may market news through a democratic lens, hoping to engage users in the political