Social Media Affects Opinions, But Not the Way You Might Think
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2023
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Researchers have been gathering data on this question for years. They've found that social media affects opinions on these issues, but probably not the way you think.
NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with researchers, who've studied the relationship between social media posts and opinions, and outlines their findings.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Every so often it feels like one topic consumes all of social media. |
| 0:13.0 | Maybe it's Black Lives Matter, or a few months after that, |
| 0:21.0 | the presidential election. Stop a deal. |
| 0:25.0 | In these posts, everyone seems to retreat to their corners, |
| 0:30.4 | taking positions for or against something, like abortion. |
| 0:34.0 | Look America, you're not James Bond, you don't have a license to kill, which is what you're doing when you have an abortion. |
| 0:39.0 | Force pregnancy is literally a war crime and it shouldn't be forced upon anyone regardless of |
| 0:43.4 | socioeconomic status. For two months now the unavoidable topic on social media has |
| 0:48.4 | been Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. shouting at each other from opposite sides of an arena, even people with the strongest |
| 1:04.8 | disagreements seem to share one central belief. |
| 1:08.7 | This is a PSA that we need shared heavily. |
| 1:11.3 | People listen very strong right now. |
| 1:14.1 | You've been light. |
| 1:15.3 | We all have. |
| 1:16.9 | That belief is, if the post is just compelling enough, |
| 1:20.8 | it'll change someone's mind. But is the assumption true? |
| 1:25.0 | Consider this. Can the right Tik-Toc or Instagram Story or Facebook Post |
| 1:30.0 | actually persuade someone to change their position on current events. |
| 1:34.0 | From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. |
| 1:40.0 | It's Monday, December 11th. |
| 1:42.0 | This message comes from NPR Spong. It's Monday, December 11th. |
| 1:46.0 | This message comes from NPR sponsor, Capital One, the Capital One Quicksilver card. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.