Facebook has changed politics in a significant way. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump surprised everyone by their performance in their respective primary campaigns. Most of us agree that politics has become more polarized. Much of this is due to the ways in which Facebook has changed how we consume news. Misinformation which would never have made its way through the editorial process in traditional media is routinely published on Facebook. There is a positive relationship between the inflammatory potential of content and its potential to go viral on Facebook. This article explains how entrepreneurs have set up "news sites" that organize and feed "information" to likely readers or watchers of videos. They can earn a good living if they are successful at misinforming their audiences of true believers. Its not surprising that those with strong, and often strange views, are reinforced and supported by the ways in which Facebook creates groups of followers with strong convictions that puzzle many of us.
Donald Trump's new campaign manager is also the CEO of an extreme right wing news site that has millions of followers. This article provides a good sample of the information that he feeds to his followers. Most of his followers are ardent Trump supporters. They use Facebook to share the information that originates on this news site.
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