Homophily, or the tendency to associate with like-minded individuals, is reinforced on social media through sorting (self-selection into like-minded communities) and pruning (unfriending those with discordant views). The author presents results from two image-based conjoint experiments measuring how exposure to partisan messages or misinformation influences users’ inclination to unfollow friends. They assess both users’ intent to unfollow those sharing dissonant messages and their perception of being unfollowed. Findings reveal a stronger tendency to unfriend those spreading misinformation than partisan messages, with partisans more likely to remove dissenters. These dynamics have key implications for social media homophily in polarized environments.
