{"272041":{"#nid":"272041","#data":{"type":"news","title":"How Politics Divide Facebook Friendships","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThose who say one should never talk about politics in mixed company have never logged on to Facebook. These days a typical newsfeed is peppered with links, opinions and jabs about the latest political topics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/dl.dropboxusercontent.com\/u\/15504661\/paper430.pdf\u0022\u003Enew study\u003C\/a\u003E from the Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that politics are the great divider. People who think the majority of their friends have differing opinions than their own engage less on Facebook. For those who choose to stay logged in and politically active, the research found that most tend to stick in their own circles, ignore those on the other side and become more polarized.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the same time, the study suggests a few design changes that could allow the social media platform to bridge political differences. By displaying shared interests between friends during their prickly conversations, Facebook could help diffuse possible arguments and alleviate tension. The research also notes that increasing exposure and engagement to weak ties could make people more resilient in the face of political disagreement.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPeople are mainly friends with those who share similar values and interests. They tend to interact with them the most, a phenomenon called homophily,\u201d said Catherine Grevet, the Georgia Tech Ph.D. student who led the study. \u201cBut that means they rarely interact with the few friends with differing opinions. As a result, they aren\u2019t exposed to opposing viewpoints.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFacebook\u2019s algorithms don\u2019t help the cause. Newsfeeds are filled with the friends a person most often interacts with, typically those with strong ties. Grevet suggests that the social media site should sprinkle in a few status updates on both sides of political issues. That would expose people to different opinions, which are typically held by weak ties.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDesigning social media toward nudging users to strengthen relationships with weak ties with different viewpoints could have beneficial consequences for the platform, users and society,\u201d said Grevet.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study surveyed more than 100 politically active Facebook users in the spring of 2013 amid debates about budgets cuts, gay marriage and gun control regulations. The majority of participants were liberal, female and under the age of 40, mirroring the traditional Facebook user. More than 70 percent said they don\u2019t talk about politics with their friends with different opinions. When they saw something they didn\u2019t agree with, 60 percent said they ignored it and didn\u2019t comment. When they did, sometimes it made the person question the relationship and disassociate and from the friend.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEven though people could simply unfriend someone with different opinions, and there were certainly those who did that, there were many relationships that were able to be maintained,\u201d said Grevet. \u201cThrough a combination of behaviors on Facebook like hiding, tuning out, logging off or avoiding certain conversations, people negotiated around those differences to stay connected.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat\u2019s why she feels social media sites like Facebook could support those relationships better, for instance, by highlighting shared interests between acquaintances.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGrevet will present the study in February at the \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:http:\/\/cscw.acm.org\/\u0022\u003EComputer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing\u003C\/a\u003E conference in Baltimore. Her advisor is Eric Gilbert, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing, who has recently \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2012\/06\/06\/have-you-heard-nearly-15-percent-work-email-gossip\u0022\u003Estudied office gossip\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2014\/01\/14\/georgia-tech-researchers-reveal-phrases-pay-kickstarter\u0022\u003Esuccessful phrases on Kickstarter\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Study suggests ways social media site could bridge political divide"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/dl.dropboxusercontent.com\/u\/15504661\/paper430.pdf\u0022\u003Enew study\u003C\/a\u003E suggests that politics are the great divider on social media. People who think the majority of their friends have differing opinions than their own engage less on Facebook. For those who choose to stay logged in and politically active, the research found that most tend to stick in their own circles, ignore those on the other side and become more polarized.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Study examines how politically active Facebook users interact with some but ignore others."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2014-01-29 12:07:38","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:47","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-01-29T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2014-01-29T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/","title":"College of Computing"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"13342","name":"Eric Gilbert"},{"id":"10835","name":"Facebook"},{"id":"3177","name":"politics"},{"id":"114601","name":"Press Release"},{"id":"167543","name":"social media"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71901","name":"Society and Culture"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003EMedia Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}