I am looking for testimony from people whom have been influenced by social media. Specifically those who used to be solidified with one side of things but now pay attention to all sides. I used to read comments about how it's a waste of time posting memes and opinions because the people you are trying to change simply won't. I find that to be a shallow argument with little intellectual persuasion. I have definitely changed how I personally feel about many topics due to reading the opinions and publications of others and it has fueled me to dig more then ever before.
I am a Xennial and came to social media late. I lot of people in my generation don't use it the same way Millenials and Gen-Z people do, but some of us quickly catch up. I learned on the <other> social media site that 90% of the people I had as 'friends' in school turned out to be socialists or communists or some other radicalized liberal.
I talk to very few of them any more, not because I don't want to, but because I've been unfriended and blocked by most over ideological differences. I learned that most social media sites are Left-leaning and encourage 'bubble-izing'. Also FB un-boosts posts by conservatives and has specific tools and algorithms for trying to suppress conservative ideas and personalities in favor of their political bias.
I hope that this site remains an open market of ideas and free of the creator's bias and censorship. Time will tell.
Well, at first I was going to say no, but since Youtube in included, I would say yes. It's much easier/efficient to hear someone present an argument, than reading an article. That is also why I don't watch TV news, and get my news from online text sources (so I can take longer to digest and eval the story).