The 'Spiral of Silence' theory
https://www.youtube.com/embed/uPyq46ct7C8
Point: "social media did not provide new forums for those who might otherwise remain silent to express their opinions and debate issues. Further, if people thought their friends and followers in social media disagreed with them, they were less likely to say they would state their views on the Snowden-NSA story online and in other contexts, such as gatherings of friends, neighbors, or co-workers. This suggests a spiral of silence might spill over from online contexts to in-person contexts, though our data cannot definitively demonstrate this causation. It also might mean that the broad awareness social media users have of their networks might make them more hesitant to speak up because they are especially tuned into the opinions of those around them" (Hampton, K., 2014). Context: "Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence name is closely connected to the 'spiral of silence' – a theory that reverberated far beyond the scientific community. Anchored in social psychology, the theory explains how sways in public opinion may come about, especially in morally and emotionally laden debates. Possibly because Noelle-Neumann's assumptions about the social influences on human behavior are controversial and contradict widely held views of the rational, autonomous individual, the spiral of silence counts among the most cited and replicated theories in social sciences" (Petersen, T., 2022). Bibliography: Hampton, K., Rainie, L., Lu, W., Dwyer, M., Shin, I., & Purcell, K. (2014). "Social media and the 'spiral of silence.'" Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/08/26/social-media-and-the-spiral-of-silence/ Paluck, B. L. (2025, July). "What a ‘Spiral of Silence’ Can Do to a Democracy". The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/07/silence-spiral/683372/ Petersen, T. (2022). 'Spiral of Silence | Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann'. Noelle-Neumann.de. https://noelle-neumann.de/scientific-work/spiral-of-silence/
