On Politics and Communities
Many folks have recently written about politics and its impact on communities. Though I generally avoid talking about politics, this question from Manu piqued my interest—should you keep some topics off of online communities, specifically social platforms? I say, why not?
After all, social media is a resource, just like a piece of land. You can set up any form of community on a piece of land—a country, a city, or a neighbourhood. With each having its own set of rules. Society functions best when you allow all of that. The same applies to social media. Every person who sets one up should be free to decide on its size and nature.
While announcing the launch of 500 Social, Kev suggested avoiding posting about politics on the platform. The expectation triggered a discussion with voices leaning on both ends.
Why is talking about politics on social media generally a bad idea? Well, it is inherent to the nature of communication that the small text box on such platforms incites -- a short reaction lacking nuance. I wrote a while back about how that differs from an interaction. Manu puts this well.
The problem with social media and politics is that way too many people are interested in sharing what they think on social media but very few are interested in having actual, real discussions. Because blasting out a tweet takes 10 seconds while having an actual conversation might take hours and span days.
They react on social media, either through words or buttons. Neither allows a sane conversation. No wonder then it is only a path downhill, as Om opines.
[S]ocial media is an “engagement” game driven by “dunking” and derision. Even people I respect and listen to have started to sound tinny. Most of us aren’t self-aware enough to realize that the more we speak, the less we say.
On politics, most people speak more because they often have little to say. The fleeting medium of large and open social platforms fosters such wars of words, and communities don't thrive in such hostile environments.
So I am not surprised that Kev has set a "no-politics" rule -- after all, he wants a small online community of his own.