Thoughtpop is a social network visualizer that aims
to burst bubbles and disband echochambers.
Explore how you and your friends engage
with trending topics in comparison to the
global, Facebook community.
During UC Berkeley's Fall 2017 semester, Yulin Zheng, Cindy Martinez, Alex Kierlanczyk, Carlo Casalme and Nicholas Cowan (pictured left to right) came together in effort to create something to challenge the echochambers we often experience on social media. After empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing, Thoughtpop was created.
After attending several on-campus events regarding free speech and our current political climate, we noticed a few interesting things. Although those we interviewed exhibited opinions across the political spectrum, one thing they shared was a sense of mutual respect and open-mindedness. Small adjustments to the language and design of a space, whether physical or digital, can have profound impacts on how dialogue takes course. Therefore, we asked the following: How might we recreate the sense of comfort, security and open dialogue that a physical space can invoke in a digital medium?
Connect Thoughtpop to a Facebook account to launch the visualization.
A representation of trending topics across all of Facebook, with the engagement by the user and their friends being encapsulated by the grey bubble.
Trending topics shared by the user and their friends, illustrating engagement, opinion and providing direct access to the article or topic itself.