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In reading “What you can, can’t and shouldn’t do with social media data” I found it particularly interesting how data scientists are discovering the relationship between social media and political affiliation for example.  While I believe that the abundance and availability of social media data will provide researchers with valuable insights on these questions, I also believe that the sheer magnitude of data will just confirm phenomena that we already know.  In other words I believe that social media creates more data points that follow a curve that we already plotted. In terms of political affiliation, researchers were well informed about geography and social frameworks that surround each political party affiliation.  

What I find much more interesting is not the relationship between social media and politics is how social media creates politics.  The social media platforms that have popped up are major rivers for the flow of information, ideas, and political rhetoric. With this platform we see the emergence of niche political groups and people rallying around certain ideologies.  Additionally, these social media platforms have created a completely new form of political debate online.

Finally, I think that social media has reinforced confirmation biases within politics.  Coming full circle, one way in which social media data has confirmed our understanding of political party is confirmation bias and friend groups.  A map of facebook friends and their corresponding political ideology show little overlap across party lines. This confirms our understanding of politics and further reinforces a political dichotomy.