ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the conceptualization of egocentric publics. It then explores some consequences of egocentric publics as they become 'filters' for the information, emotion, and mobilization efforts of society at large. The chapter also investigates some of the systematic biases that permeate this new reception environment and lay out an initial agenda for the systematic research of egocentric publics. Egocentric publics are based on social networks, but rather than highlighting the access to resources that personal communities provide. The chapter emphasizes the communicative or public potential of these social relations. Of course our egocentric network is connected to other egocentric networks, but we will return to this when we examine its networked nature. In that sense we argue that egocentric networks are not locally based publics, but they are infused by multiple localities. But, for the purposes of the chapter focuses on the informational consequences for the individual immersed in his or her egocentric public.
