Echo Chambers or Doom Scrolling? Homophily, Intensity, and Exposure to Elite Social Media Messages

Abstract

While existing research shows why politicians’ social media messages spread online, we know comparatively less about the types of individuals who see these messages. The current study tests whether Americans’ exposure to posts from political elites is best explained by their partisan allegiance (homophily) or the intensity of their political engagement. To test this question, we employ data from a 2020 Cooperative Election Study module that asks respondents how often they encounter social media posts from various political figures. We find that both homophily and intensity characterize exposure to elite messages: partisans and ideologues not only tend to encounter posts from politicians on their own side of the aisle most often, but they also encounter posts from politicians on the opposite side more often than do independent or moderate respondents. The role of intensity relative to homophily is greatest for posts by former President Donald Trump, which Democrats were more likely to encounter than Republicans or independents.