Social media - broader view or more narrow-minded?

The article "From relationships to revolutions: seven ways Facebook has changed the world" gives good examples of how social media has changed the way we communicate and live our lives, how we get in touch and keep in touch with others and how we may influence the world. But is it actually giving us a broader view of the world or does social media makes us more narrow-minded?

Let me first elaborate a bit on what I mean about making us more narrow-minded. On Facebook I am friends with people I know from school, high school, university, work and spare time activities in addition to relatives. Most of my friends are quite similar to me, they have a university degree (most of them within engineering), a full time job, go for vacation a couple of times a year and live what one would call middle class lives. When I scroll down my news feed I see articles and pages my friends like, I click on some and the more I read about one topic the more news and adds I will get on that topic, and less on other topics. See my point here? My friends are similar to me, hence we like similar things and our view on the world will be reinforced by the way social media and search engines work, we are constantly fed with opinions and information that matches what we already are interested in, and I'm positive that it makes us more narrow-minded.

Do you remember when the newspaper was something you got on your front step in the mornings? If you are like me you probably read your favourite sections first, but while doing so, you at the same time casted a glance at some other headlines or photos or even read article about topics you were not that interested in. When I read news online it is not very often I click on an article if the headline does not manage to draw my attention immediately, I am a lot more picky when it comes to what deserves an extra click compared to start reading the next article in a paper newspaper or magazine. Same goes for television, watching the evening news on public service television probably gives me a broader view of the world than my news feed on Facebook.

On the other hand, social media has for sure broaden our views in that sense that we can make contact and stay in contact with people almost anywhere in the world. We can get first-hand information about almost any topic and arrange online gathering to learn more. At least if we actively search for it. Information is so easily available today but the amount is massive and we have to chose what to read and watch. 

So, how about if the sites proposed to you were based on which topics you never search for? Or if the online book store would tell you ”people who bought book A did not buy book Y, want to have a look?” That would broaden our view for sure. I once discussed this possibility with a software engineer, he did not think such a search function would be possible, but I do not see why it would not? Not as the default option, but why not have a tick-off box for ”surprise me”? 

What do you think, have social media like Facebook broaden your view of the world?