We only believe what agrees with us.
When fewer people read well, false information spreads more easily. People stick with groups that agree with them and stop questioning what they hear.
With 28% of U.S. adults now at the lowest reading level, more readers lack the skills to test a claim.1 Among seven countries studied, the U.S. was the only one where more than 10% of people got news only from sources on one political side.2 About 1 in 7 Americans watches more than eight hours of one-sided political TV a month, a group larger than all newspaper subscribers.3
About 1 in 7 Americans watches more than eight hours of one-sided political TV a month (UC Berkeley).
More numbers
of the most liberal U.S. Twitter users, and 78% of the most conservative, lived in a news bubble in one NYU study.4
of Americans get TV news only from partisan sources, compared with 4% online.5
“Seventeen percent is a lot bigger than 4%, and 17% of the population is a pretty substantial voting bloc.”
Duncan Watts, University of Pennsylvania
The other side
Several large studies find only a small share of Americans, around 4% online, live in true echo chambers, where they only hear one side.
of Americans fall into online news echo chambers, by one University of Pennsylvania measure. University of Pennsylvania ↗
people, including in the U.S., have relatively diverse news diets. Reuters Institute ↗
Why Anthony still holds this view
The share is small but loud, and the 17% in partisan TV bubbles is a powerful voting bloc.
For marketers
Messages travel inside communities. Work with trusted voices in each one instead of broadcasting the same message to everyone.
For you
Follow one credible source you usually disagree with.