One of the best and worst things about social media networks is that they have the idea of letting you share with the world in a filter bubble. The recent push to make timelines be curated using algorithms and the idea to let people choose who to follow has led to people living in certain bubbles which can be good to obtain information of interest and can be bad since you are less likely to see diverging opinions.
The filter bubble is very apparent in networks like Facebook but it can also be seen on Twitter. Although it is not as apparent as on Facebook, it is possible to live in a bubble on Twitter if you follow only certain people of interest, engaging on only specific matters and blocking/muting people of disinterest.
What if there was a way to see a person’s Twitter feed from their point of view? Well that is what MIT is trying to do here with Flip Feed. It is powered by “deep learning and social network analysis” where feeds are selected based on your “political ideologies” This means that if you are a conservative, you will be shown a feed from a liberal.
First you need to download the Flip Feed Chrome extension and enable it in settings. On your Twitter timeline right below your profile details, there will be a “Flip my feed” button which will then load someone’s timeline on your timeline (you may have to restart Chrome to see the Flip Feed menu). There is a button to go back to your feed after viewing the other side of the pond.
From their website, its aim was to “explore how social media platforms can be used to mitigate, rather than exacerbate, ideological polarization by helping people explore and empathize with different perspectives.”
If you are the curious type, go ahead and install the Chrome extension and venture outside your bubble on Twitter.
