Second, we need to update more frequently our substantive understanding of
how people are exposed to and process political information. In other words,
the questions addressed in the following chapters are important if we want to
understand the functioning of politics in the current moment. Several chapters
discuss issues that are genuinely new, such as Chapter 5 by Woolley on bots
(social media accounts that produce content via automated algorithms) and
Chapter 7 by Nielsen and Fletcher on the impact of the digital revolution on the
media industry and individuals’ news consumption. Others represent new takes
on old questions, such as Chapter 4 by Siegel on hate speech and Chapter 2 by
Guess and Lyons on political disinformation. Still others consider old questions
that need to be considered anew in the digital environment: Chapter 3 by
Barberá on political polarization, here considered in the context of social
media usage, and Chapter 8 by Wittenberg and Berinsky on correcting
Social_Media_and_Democracy