Social networking sites and politics

Abstract

It turns out that birds of a feather dont always flock together on social networking sites when it comes to politics. There is evidence in a new survey by the Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project that on social networking sites (SNS): Friends disagree with friends about political issues and usually let their disagreements pass without comment. Among the SNS users whose friends post political content, 25% always agree or mostly agree with their friends political postings; 73% of these SNS users only sometimes agree or never agree with their friends political postings. When they disagree with others posts, 66% of these SNS users say they usually ignore the posts; 28% said they usually respond with comments or posts of their own; and 5% said it depends on the circumstances. Users can be surprised to learn the political leanings of their friends. Some 38% of SNS users have discovered through a friends posts that his/her political beliefs were different than the user thought they were.