A research study revealed that social media discourages debate, especially when an opinion differs from what emerges to be the popular one. According to experts, this tendency has also become apparent in the offline world.

The report published on Tuesday said that social media makes people less likely to voice their sentiments when they differ from those of their peers.

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They call this theory the "spiral of silence."

Researchers at Pew Research Center and Rutgers University carried out an experiment with the Edward Snowden case, asking their participants which venue they are likely to discuss their opinions on the issue.  

They found out that most were unwilling to discuss it on their social media. However, if their Facebook friends agree with them, they are 1.9 times likely to join a discussion on Facebook.

Since humans are accustomed to the approval of others, they tend to become quiet if others disagree with them, the researchers said. 

Active social media users get many of these signals so they are less likely to voice an opinion.

The internet whose algorithms adapt search results for users, boosts the effect, the study said. If a user has a particular perspective and the algorithm has picked it up, it will show news and content from people who reflect similar views.

For instance, Twitter said that it will start showing tweets from people users do not follow if they are popular among the people they follow.

But the findings also extend to the offline world.

According to one of the findings, those who regularly engage in social media are similarly reluctant to express divergent views in the real world.

One implication of this is it discourages debate.

"People are less likely to express opinions and to be exposed to the other side, and that's exposure we'd like to see in a democracy," Keith N. Hampton, an author of the study said.

However, the researchers made a disclaimer to the study. Their findings were limited as they were based on a single experiment.

Tagsopinion, debate, Keith N. Hampton, Rutgers University, Pew Research, Edward Snowden