Welch: Facebook is 'Killing the Republican Party'

Malvern-area resident Steve Welch, who ran for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Bob Casey earlier this year, believes Facebook is insulating its users, to the detriment of the GOP.

In an op-ed published Sunday on Philly.com, Welch wrote that the social media network creates an echo chamber for users and stifles intelligent debate.

Facebook is not only responsible for creating unwarranted expectations, it is killing the Republican Party. Facebook pushes combative tones, extreme views, and single-issue agendas to the forefront, while even-tempered discussions about comprehensive reforms are buried and rarely seen at all.

He was susceptible to the insularity of the network, too, he said, and allowed it to influence his expectations of the 2012 election.

On Election Day, I went door to door talking to voters in Phoenixville, a predominantly Democratic town in my area. The talk on the street that day was drastically different from what I expected. It was clear I had let my Facebook echo chamber manipulate my perspective and, as the day wore on, I began to fear I wasn't the only one.

Read the full column here, Facebook's self-affirmation pushes GOP out of mainstream, on philly.com.