The main issue with politics on social media platform's such as Facebook are the stubborn arguments that arise. Majority of Facebook political debates arise from voicing opinions related to one side of the political matter vs. the other. While everyone has the right to voice one's opinion, it doesn't make it right to encourage arguments via online due to objecting to another person's beliefs. Another issue related to Facebook politics includes the flooding of political posts via advertisements. Facebook, as well as other platforms include political propaganda advertisements that sway users opinions, which then leads to further complications from arguments occurring online. An article from Stanford University by author Krysten Crawford includes a research study by those who quit social media before the 2020 election. The study was conducted in order to see if people's political views changed while being off social media. Crawford includes a statement regarding those who quit "Those who were off Facebook were worse at answering news quiz questions, but they were also less likely to fall for widely circulated misinformation, suggesting that the platform can be an important conduit for both real and false news." This statement goes to show that while social media platforms can include somewhat credible information at times, the real issue is determining what is and is not factual/credible information when indulging on the platform. Overall, Facebook as well as many other platforms, control too much political power over the people, and should not be trusted to gather credible information when trying to self educate on political matter!
Hi Hayden great post! I really liked your comment on social media platforms and misinformation. Social media platform were designed with the idea to be able to allows us to share our lives and connect with others. Many people use it to keep up with their friends and family, and share their thoughts. I feel as though this is where the problems come in though. Because many people are only connected with their friends and family on social media they end up falling for misinformation a lot of the time. What I mean by this is that people are connected to the people they trust. so when a cousin or a lifelong friend shares an article spreading misinformation people can tend to take it at face value. I think this happens because the thought process ends up being "well cousin Janice watches the news a lot and she just shared this article, so it must be true".
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