Facebook feeds tend to be more diverse

months.

Over time, I stopped worrying about that and stuck to following people who shared my interests, who were funny, who could illuminate Austin, entertainment and technology for me daily. I followed friends-of-friends, co-workers who over time got on board the social media train and lots of acquaintances I met in real life.

My well-meaning goal of trying to make my Twitter, Facebook and other social media accounts rich with different points of view has, over time, failed. I now see many of the same news stories, jokes and opinions echoed over and over by the usual suspects.

Often, I’m passing those same items along or chiming in, adding to the echo-chamber effect.

I’m forced to confront the fact that I’ve created a neat silo for myself. Every time someone posted something radically annoying from far left or right, I unfollowed. Whenever a fight broke out on Facebook that I tired of hearing about, I disengaged with the participants. When the last set of presidential debates prompted many of the people I followed to Tweet running commentary about every word, I tapped out. I furiously filtered.

I asked friends (via social media, of course), whether they think they get a good cross-section of political opinion from their online friends. Some said the virtual tribe they’ve chosen largely reflects their own points of view. Others said that their Facebook stream (often filled with extended family and acquaintances) ends up being more mixed, politically, than the people they connect with on Twitter.

A Google+ contact of mine, a San Antonio techie named Dale Blasingame, wrote: “I used to follow people from both sides, but found it was making me angry, upset, frustrated, etc... So I’ve ignored/blocked/unfollowed the trolls from both sides on FB and Twitter.

“Sure, I may miss out on the occasional news story, but I’ve found my sanity is much more in check.”

Two years ago, I wrote about the gubernatorial race, in which both Gov. Rick Perry and his challenger, Bill White, touted the use of social media in their respective campaigns. Both campaigns put a lot of energy into Twitter, Facebook, online video and other social media tools that were gaining steam back in 2010.

But in the end, social media efforts didn’t appear to change many people’s minds. They passed on links, retweeted and mobilized for their favorite. But did anyone decide whom to vote for based on something they saw via social media? I wonder.

If social media is about finding like-minded people with whom you can share your online life, that doesn’t lend itself to spirited debate and an exchange of ideas across that center political aisle.

In fact, social media begins to feel an awful lot like being preached to in the choir.