Cliff Lampe: Social Media and the Media Ecology

Media Ecology

Professor Cliff Lampe discusses how social media fosters extremism in the large media ecology. Lampe explains how messages and ideas can move from fringe sites like 4chan to an enabler and then on to a more mainstream site. He describes how different parts of the social media ecosystem can move users from a tacit viewer to an engaged supporter along the spectrum of extremism. Extremists use a whole range of social media spaces in order to radicalize different groups in different ways.

Does understanding social media as an ecosystem change the way you think about extremism? How do you interact with the social media ecosystem? Are you on multiple sites? Are you an active poster or an observer?