Social Media + Society

For his article, ‘Politically Motivated Avoidance in Social Networks: A Study of Facebook and the 2020 Presidential Election’, Neely (2021) looks at the topics and research data of unfriending or unfollowing, selective avoidance, and information credibility employed by the social media users of Facebook during the election. The increase  of reliance on, and the convenience of, using social media sites to access both news and information has led to more users employing selective avoidance or unfriending those in their social group that display or challenge their existing beliefs. Although, the unfollowing or unfriending also seemed dependent on the closeness of the connection to the user, and the credibility of their information sources. 

Neely (2021) considers that while in previous studies where the “politically motivated unfriending/unfollowing represents a unique form of selective avoidance”  (p 9), the data collected from the survey conducted for the article offers a counterpoint in that confirmation bias, reliability of information and political affiliations all play a part in the decision to unfollow or mute an account (Neely, 2021, p 11). The study also concluded that the users who relied heavily on social media for their information and news were more likely to engage in selective avoidance and unfriending behaviours than those that gathered their information from multiple sources.

Personally, I have found that I am becoming more reliant on the news and information pages I follow to know what is happening in the world around me, and I have seen the amount of news and information that is being shared through my Facebook feed has increased. With the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns it seems that our reliance on this type of information gathering has grown. While most of the posts that my network ‘friends’ have shared can be seen to come from credible beginnings and sources, I have found that one or two of my connections have reposted stories that rely on speculation and misinformation. By first ‘muting’ and then ‘unfriending’ a contact who was continually inclined to share far-right political leanings and misinformation, I believe that I have engaged in the selective avoidance Neely was suggesting in his article.

Neely, S.R. (2021). Politically motivated avoidance in social networks: A study of Facebook and the 2020 presidential election. Social Media + Society, 7(4), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211055438

Pixaby. (2020). Social media connection networking humans [Image]. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/social-media-connections-networking-5481633/