The echo-chamber effect is one of the pitfalls of that accompany social media’s huge benefits. This effect emerges from a tendency to pick up a snippet of news or information and magnify it among social media–connected groups, causing group-think. It’s part of hyperpolarization, one of the trends forecast for 2010 by Marian Salzman, head of global PR for Euro RSCG Worldwide. Voluntary segregation rises as lines are drawn based on a growing awareness of our neighbor’s opinions and affiliations, be they political, religious or personal.

“The proliferation of new, low-cost media, able to aim only at a niche audience, allow people to hear or to read only what they want to, not exposing them to any challenging thought or uncomfortable opinion,” says James A. Thomson, president and CEO of RAND Corp.

Another pitfall of social media is that online interaction leads some people to drop inhibitions, creating antisocial behavior. In the Euro RSCG Worldwide survey:

• 42.6 percent of respondents said they feel less inhibited interacting online than face-to-face
• 20 percent said they lashed out at companies or products thanks to the anonymity of online interaction
• 31.5 percent reported that online interaction let them do something they’d been wanting to do