Drawing on an original study of internet users across nine Western democracies, Outside the Bubble offers an unprecedented look at the effects of social media on democratic participation. The book reveals that, for most users, social media do not constitute echo chambers where people only hear what they want to hear. Instead, these platforms facilitate accidental encounters with news and exposure to electoral mobilization. While social media may contributeto many societal problems, they can help address at least two important democratic ills: citizens' apathy towards politics, and inequalities between those who choose to exercise their voice and those who remain silent.

Much time has been spent over the past decade debating whether social media contribute to democracy. Drawing on an original study of internet users across nine Western democracies, Outside the Bubble offers an unprecedented look at the effects of social media on democratic participation. This book argues that social media do indeed increase political participation in both online and face-to-face activities--and that they expand political equality across Western democracies. In fact, Cristian Vaccari and Augusto Valeriani find that, for the most part, social media do not constitute echo chambers or filter bubbles as most users see a mixture of political content they agree and disagree with. Various political experiences on social media have positive implications for participation and active political involvement: social media allow citizens to encounter clearly identifiable political viewpoints, facilitate accidental exposure to political news, and enable political actors and ordinary citizens to reach voters with electoral messages designed to mobilize them. Moreover, political interactions occurring on social media do not only benefit citizens who are already involved, but boost participation across the board. This is because social media offer both additional participatory incentives to the already engaged and new political opportunities for the less engaged. By adopting a comparative approach, Vaccari and Valeriani also show that political institutions matter since some political experiences on social media are more strongly associated with participation in majoritarian systems and in party-centric systems. While social media may contribute to many societal problems, they can help address at least two important democratic ills: citizens' apathy towards politics, and inequalities between those who choose to exercise their voice and those who remain silent.

Originally published in 2016 in Great Britain as The bubble boy.

Based on the smash-hit audio serial, Bubble is a hilarious high-energy graphic novel with a satirical take on the “gig economy.” Built and maintained by corporate benevolence, the city of Fairhaven is a literal bubble of safety and order (and amazing coffee) in the midst of the Brush, a harsh alien wilderness ruled by monstrous Imps and rogue bands of humans. Humans like Morgan, who’s Brush-born and Bubble-raised and fully capable of fending off an Imp attack during her morning jog. She’s got a great routine going—she has a chill day job, she recreationally kills the occasional Imp, then she takes that Imp home for her roommate and BFF, Annie, to transform into drugs as a side hustle. But cracks appear in her tidy life when one of those Imps nearly murders a delivery guy in her apartment, accidentally transforming him into a Brush-powered mutant in the process. And when Morgan’s company launches Huntr, a gig economy app for Imp extermination, she finds herself press-ganged into kicking her stabby side job up to the next level as she battles a parade of monsters and monstrously Brush-turned citizens, from a living hipster beard to a book club hive mind.

We’ve all heard the reports -- the great housing boom that has fueled premium prices and sellers’ dreams is slowing down. The real estate market may experience ups and downs like any other, but it’s not likely to implode spontaneously. With proper planning and a little knowledge, homeowners, investors, and other stakeholders can avoid disaster and in fact profit on their properties regardless of what the market does. Beyond the Bubble takes a balanced look at what drives changes in real estate markets and how these changes affect property owners and investors. Readers will learn: * the history, nature, and dynamics of market ‘bubbles’ * how to anticipate a coming downturn and act accordingly * the regional nature of real estate market conditions * differences and similarities in residential and commercial markets * other profit strategies when selling is difficult or impossible * how to analyze the market using facts, not hype. Thorough and well-reasoned, Beyond the Bubble will help property owners maintain a strong and level foundation for their financial futures.

Explains how soap bubbles are formed and what can be done with them.

Cover title.