Kicking out the trolls – Antecedents of social exclusion intentions in Facebook groups

Ditrich, Lara; Sassenberg, Kai

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.04.049

Cited by 23 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Lastly, our study provides strong evidence that citizens who engage in confrontational and uncivil discussions on social media are also more likely to unfriend, unfollow and hide content-across all three Western democracies, confrontational style was by far the strongest predictor of selective avoidance. While previous research has demonstrated that individuals with such tendencies are more likely to be excluded from group discussions (Ditrich & Sassenberg, 2017), our findings point out to a broader pattern of political animosity and intolerance that emerges from such behaviors. While heated disagreement and even incivility were praised as having potential democratic merits in the Web 1.0 era (Papacharissi, 2004), in the social media environment they are associated with both political content filtering as well as social disconnection and exclusion.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 75%

“…According to Rainie and Smith (2012), 8 percent of American SNS users have blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone because "they argued about political issues on the site with the user or someone the user knows" (para.10). Ditrich and Sassenberg (2017) reported that Facebook group members who displayed deviant behaviors during group discussion (e.g., verbally attacking people, posting ironic content) were likely to be excluded from the group. A study conducted in Israel shows that mere ideological differences were rarely sufficient to justify unfriending, but that the style of political expression that included vulgar, rude, racist and generally offensive speech often acted as a trigger for disconnection (Schwarz & Shani, 2016).…”

Section: Confrontational Discussion Stylementioning

confidence: 99%

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Selective Avoidance on Social Media: A Comparative Study of Western Democracies

Škorić

Zhu

Koc-Michalska

et al. 2021

Social Science Computer Review

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This study examines the phenomena of political unfriending and content removal on social media in three Western democracies—France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We seek to understand the role of crosscutting discussion, confrontational discussion style, and ideological extremity in triggering unfriending and content removal on social media, while shedding light on cross-country differences. The findings show that selective avoidance behaviors are much more common in the United States than either in France or the United Kingdom. They also show that crosscutting discussion and confrontational style are the predictors of selective avoidance across all the above countries, while ideological extremity plays a role in the United States only. We suggest that while social media provide opportunities for citizens to engage in discussions with people with dissimilar political views and socioeconomic backgrounds, they also allow them to easily reestablish more homophilous environments via content removal and tie dissolution.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 75%

Section: Confrontational Discussion Stylementioning

confidence: 99%

Selective Avoidance on Social Media: A Comparative Study of Western Democracies

Škorić

Zhu

Koc-Michalska

et al. 2021

Social Science Computer Review

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“…For example, Rainie and Smith (2012) reported that about 8% of American social network sites users had cut digital ties with others because of heated political arguments. Facebook group members tend to exclude those who verbally attack others (Ditrich and Sassenberg, 2017). Minority members are likely to have a stronger need for emotional comfort.…”

Section: The Moderating Role Of Perceived Opinion Minority Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political implications of disconnection on social media: A study of politically motivated unfriending

Zhu

Škorić

2021

New Media & Society

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This study examines the political implications of social media through the lens of digital disconnectivity. Specifically, it focuses on politically motivated unfriending and examines its influence on individuals’ political engagement, namely political expression and information consumption on social media. Furthermore, considering the importance of minority–majority relations for understanding disconnection phenomena, we investigate whether the impact of unfriending is more pronounced among opinion minorities than majorities. Using a two-wave panel survey conducted in the post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong, we find that politically motivated unfriending predicts an increased level of political expression, but that it is only significant among people who perceive themselves as holding minority opinions. At the same time, we find no relationship between unfriending and information consumption on social media. Based on the findings, we discuss the implications of unfriending for building digital “safe spaces” and its distinct role in promoting political engagement in times of political conflicts.

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“…Extensive research demonstrated its role in influencing self-reported measures, especially when the scope of the study involves sensitive issues, and that the assurances of anonymity and confidentiality can only partially counteract this effect [7] . For this reason, past self-report measures of social exclusion intentions, sentiments, or behaviors (e.g., [4 , 6] ) are potentially biased by social desirability, meaning that people could orient their responses in a less excluding way because of social desirability [16] .…”

Section: Background and Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

The Social Exclusion Bench Tool (SEBT): A visual way of assessing interpersonal social exclusion

et al. 2021

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People usually prefer to appear with an inclusive and positive attitude to others’ eyes. For this reason, the self-report scales assessing social exclusion intentions are often biased by social desirability. In this work, we present an innovative graphical tool, named Social Exclusion Bench Tool (SEBT), for assessing social exclusion not influenced by social desirability. The tool is based on the consistency between social distance and physical distance evaluation. The results showed that in two samples of adults from Italy (N = 252) and the UK (N = 254), the SEBT positively correlated with self-report measures of social exclusion, but not with the social desirability measure. The tool has been preliminarily evaluated in the context of social exclusion toward migrant people, but it appears a promising instrument for assessing social exclusion intentions toward different social groups. The self-report scales assessing social exclusion intentions are often biased by social desirability. The Social Exclusion Bench Tool (SEBT) is an innovative visual instrument for assessing social exclusion that seems not to be influenced by social desirability. The tool appears a promising instrument for assessing social exclusion intentions toward different social groups.

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Kicking out the trolls – Antecedents of social exclusion intentions in Facebook groups

Cited by 23 publications

References 42 publications

Selective Avoidance on Social Media: A Comparative Study of Western Democracies

Selective Avoidance on Social Media: A Comparative Study of Western Democracies

Political implications of disconnection on social media: A study of politically motivated unfriending

The Social Exclusion Bench Tool (SEBT): A visual way of assessing interpersonal social exclusion

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