1. médialab Sciences Po
  2. News
  3. Des bulles de filtre aux logiques d’exposition et de perception sélective en régime numérique

Des bulles de filtre aux logiques d’exposition et de perception sélective en régime numérique

Julien Boyadjian (Sciences Po Lille) will present his research on online information practices, reexamining the mechanisms of selective exposure and perception.

Event, Research Seminar

⇥

salle Goguel, 56 rue des saint pères, 75007 Paris

Abstract

In recent years, numerous studies focused on measuring patterns of political homophily in online information practices. Drawing on data from platform APIs, analyses of follow networks, and various interaction metrics, this research has aimed to objectively characterize the structures of information circulation and the ideological affinities between users and media content. Their findings have significantly fueled debates surrounding the “echo chamber” and “filter bubble” hypotheses, while also contributing to a renewed examination of informational segregation phenomena.

While these studies has led to significant advances in our understanding of digital environments, it tends to focus on the analysis of specific information spaces, often examined on a platform-by-platform basis. As a result, it struggles to capture the diversity of individuals’ actual information repertoires, which combine traditional media, social media, private messaging, interpersonal conversations, and the circulation of content across platforms.

This presentation proposes to reexamine, in this context, two classic assumptions in the sociology of communication and media, which have their roots in social psychology: selective exposure and selective perception of information. To this end, we employ a multi-method approach that combines a general population survey with an analysis of the accounts of several hundred panelists across various social media platforms.

The results show that mechanisms of selective exposure and perception remain fundamental principles of information practices in the digital age. However, they also reveal that these mechanisms are embedded in media environments that are more diverse and less compartmentalized than certain interpretations based on the analysis of a single platform might suggest. By comparing self-reported data with digital traces, the presentation will discuss the contributions as well as the blind spots of these different approaches to understanding the formation of information preferences and political attitudes in the age of platforms.

Iframe https://player.vimeo.com/video/1208014837?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479

Biography

Julien Boyadjian is an associate professor of political science at Sciences Po and a researcher at CERAPS. His work focuses on the political sociology of digital technology. He is the author of Analyser les opinions politiques sur Internet (2016) and Jeunesses connectées (2022). Since 2023, he has been leading an ANR-funded research project: Analyser les pratiques informationnelles numériques en contexte (APINC).

Practical information

This seminar will be held in French, on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM.

The session is available in person in room Goguel (56 rue des Saints-Pères, 75007 Paris) or online via this link.

Registration is mandatory via this link.