Many of us are time-poor, so we rely on social media to keep up to date. Recent research from Italy warns us this can be risky.

While the research was based on Facebook, the conclusions apply to all social media including more business-relevant social media like Twitter and LinkedIn. One questions tested was:

“When online do people encounter opposing views or do they create the equivalent of gated communities?”

The short answer is people create the equivalent of gated communities. People select and share content that supports their views and ignore the rest. This is hardly surprising because it has been known for many years.