Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What determines what stories show up on Facebook users’ News Feed?
A: Facebook uses an algorithm to personalize users’ News Feeds so only stories they will find personally interesting will pop up on their screens. Approximately 57 different components are taken into account by the algorithm, such as the user’s location, their friends, their behavioral preferences and their internet connection.
Q: How many people know about this filtering process?
A: In a study conducted by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researcher Karrie Karahalios focused on discovering how people change their behavior based on the presence of a News Feed algorithm, 62% of participants didn’t even know that their News Feed was being filtered. The study’s sample size is large enough and its demographics are wide enough to allow its findings to be applied to the general public. So to answer the question, the majority of people are completely unaware of Facebook’s filtering process.
Q: How is Facebook polarizing my views?
A: Facebook is polarizing views because it is placing users into individual isolated filter bubbles. It’s programming is set up to gradually reduce the presence of cross-content on users’ News Feeds as they increase the time they spend on the networking site.
Q: Why should I care?
A: Facebook’s filtering process is exacerbating our political filter bubbles. In terms of politics, you should not be given what you want to know, you should be given what you need to know. How would you feel if this were a trial and you are the judge. However, only the prosecution has able to present its argument to you. Without hearing the defense do you feel like you could make a fair decision that will affect the life of another person. Because when you vote you are making a choice that will not just affect your future but the future of every single citizen in the United States
Q: How will you choose the articles each week for the Weekly Truth? Do you have a special criteria?
A: In order to make sure that we are presenting readers with credible sources of information, we will hold every news article to high standards of publication. When selecting sources for the Weekly Truth we will assess each article’s currency (How recently was the article published?), relevancy (Is it focused on issue of the week?), accuracy (Are their statistics correct? Where are they getting their facts from credible sources?), authority (What is the author’s background/ personal experience? Are they an expert in the field?) and purpose (bias) in relation to the topic of the week.
Q: How are you going to prevent your own biases from coming into play when selecting which articles will go into the “Give Me the Truth” news generator?
A: There will be an equal balance of perspectives on the topic of the day. For example, on our page Weekly Truth there is a list of linked articles. Among these articles there is an equal balance between liberal and conservative sources. Also all of these sources will be held to the same credibility standards.
Q: What if the “Give Me the Truth” news generator directs me to a news source that requires me to pay in order to read the entire article?
A: You can search for the public library near where you live and ask if it has the article. Many public library will have free articles from different news sources. For more information, you can contact us at newsfeedmetruth@gmail.com.
Q: How will you moderate the discussion forum?
A: Nhung Nguyen, our website manager, will be monitoring the discussion forum. She has the ability to comment, so she can bring the discussion back to focus if it goes of on a tangent. She can also delete users comments if they are disrespectful. Her main duty is to ensure that all discourse on our site is respectful.