How Social Media Algorithms Shape College Student Politics
By Madilyn Coyne, madcoyne@ttu.edu
Scrolling between classes, a student pauses to like a video about the presidential administration. The next day, their feed is full of similar political content.
Algorithms tailor these feeds based on what users click, like or share. For college students, this raises questions about how much influence platforms have on political awareness.
According to a student survey conducted at Texas Tech University in April 2025, 97 % of respondents said they use social media frequently. Of those, 39.4 % reported they get political news or opinions from social platforms.
The same survey found that 97 % of students said they had believed or been persuaded by something they saw online. More than half, 57.6 %, said their political views changed as a result.
Sayan Banerjee, a political science professor at Texas Tech, said that although social media has led to increased engagement, it presents challenges for independent thinking.
“Since the rise of social media, there’s been an increase in political participation among younger voters,” Banerjee said. “It’s difficult to prove causation, but the data suggests that online platforms are contributing to higher engagement.”
Banerjee said algorithms are designed to reinforce user behavior and build loops of similar content. Over time, this creates a feedback system known as a “bubble,” where users are surrounded by posts and opinions that mirror their own views.
“These bubbles become bigger and denser,” he said. “They’re harder to pop. It becomes more difficult to encounter perspectives that challenge your beliefs.”
A January 2025 survey on Crunch by Generation Lab found that nearly 75 % of college students use social media as a top source of news. Of those students, half said they at least somewhat trust platforms like Instagram and TikTok to deliver accurate information.
Banerjee said that while some students are aware that algorithms filter what they see, awareness does not always lead to critical evaluation or cross-referencing sources.
“There are students who critically think about the content they see,” he said. “But there are also students who accept what’s in their feed without further research.”
Mackenzie Sams, a Texas Tech student, said she deleted most of her social media accounts due to the emotional toll of the constant news cycle.
“It’s like, you read constantly about all this suffering, and what can I do?” Sams said. “It makes you feel small and hopeless.”
Sams said her views began evolving in high school after discovering political ideas online, even though her access to digital platforms was limited.
“I learned about different ideologies from Tumblr screenshots on Pinterest,” she said. “It helped me understand where other people were coming from.”
Now, she said she avoids algorithm-driven feeds and instead follows nonprofit news organizations such as NPR and ProPublica.
A 2024 study by the University of Michigan reported that exposure to political attacks on social media increases anxiety, anger and political cynicism. The study also found that highly curated content may reduce users' exposure to diverse viewpoints.
Banerjee recommended that students seeking more independent political understanding read widely from reputable sources, including international and ideologically varied publications.
He added that media literacy is typically addressed in political science programs, but not all students encounter formal instruction on evaluating digital political information.
“Higher education should have formal instruction on how to evaluate political information,” Banerjee said. “Not every student has access to that in their field.”
As social media continues to dominate how students engage with political content, its influence remains significant. In the Texas Tech survey, 63.6 % of students said they often feel they are only seeing one side of an issue in their feeds.
