> For example, I doubt you and I are two degrees away. I would have never seen this.

Well, then, you'd never have seen this terrible idea, and nor would basically anyone else. So, the terrible idea, paradoxically, works, by keeping people from seeing terrible ideas!

I had a feeling someone would point this out. But I would contend me seeing this was still good. I was able to provide feedback to the proposer, and others were able to comment and think about it as well.

At the end of the day we've all expanded our minds a bit.

Oh, yep, I wasn’t being entirely serious.

Exactly, if you restrict access based on degrees of separation, you're essentially restricting access to information by geography, which is sure to reinforce regional differences and radicalize people further by hiding dissenting opinions

Pre social media, we lived in a world where information was generally separated by geography. Your comment suggests that by returning to such a state, it would result in increased radicalisation. The implication is therefore that social media has decreased radicalisation. I’m not sure I agree.

Social media has both increased and decreased radicalization at the same time. For those who already had radical ideas, who previously couldn't find others with the same ideas, they are now more radicalized (think conspiracy theories and so on).

For those with open minds, it's allowed them to learn new things from people far away with very different ideas.

> For those with open minds, it's allowed them to learn new things from people far away with very different ideas.

It can do that, but that can also backfire because the current social media platforms aren't trustworthy or transparent.

Advertising, "influencers", fake likes, bots, and all of that let small fringe groups amplify and normalize their ideas, so when open minded people come along, they see thousands of likes and hundreds of people promoting some idea, and they can get the impression it's a much more popular or common idea than it really is.

In other words, social media makes it very easy for a vocal minority to push their views on people, and it's nearly impossible for other users to discover when that's happening.

As someone who considers himself well read and reasonably curious, I’ve found myself falling victim to “fake news” through social media. I’m quick to admit I was duped when fact checked by friends during conversations, but I’m nevertheless still longing for the days when I didn’t need to find at least 3 sources for any vaguely controversial thing I learn.