Nobody Knows You're a Dog but Everybody Knows You're a Republican

Abstract

Geography often serves as at least a partial determinant of economic and cultural characteristics. For example, individuals who live in affluent neighborhoods are likely to come into contact with other individuals who have similar income and education levels, which often tend to be associated with political views and personal interests. However, within electronic social networks (ESNs), geographical barriers weaken or disappear; interacting with someone from another country is as easy as interacting with someone next door. This survey study asks respondents to compare their close friends, people with whom the respondents interact both within an ESN and face-to-face, with their distal friends, people with whom the respondents interact only inside an ESN. Specifically, respondents are asked about the political, religious, and social views of their groups of friends. The results suggest that respondents do perceive significant differences in the views of their close friends versus their distal friends. In addition, respondents who have a higher percentage of close friends and respondents that are more comfortable sharing their own political, religious, and social views are more likely to spend time reading ESN content that conflicts with their views, but are also more likely to block content that conflicts with their views.