Liza Long recognizes her family doesn’t fit this year’s political stereotypes. She’s a female, Catholic Romney supporter, while her son is a Mormon Obama supporter in Idaho. Her family’s divided loyalties haven’t divided the family, though. Political conversations at the dinner table are stimulating and respectful — and sometimes even funny.
Is Facebook actually helping you express yourself in ways you wouldn’t feel comfortable doing in person? Have you learned something important from a Twitter post? Or are you so sick of election noise that you turn to social networks as a form of refuge?
Every two years — and especially every four — Americans are confronted with a red-blue divide that polarizes the candidates and the public. The stories we’ve heard from more than 500 people paint a picture of a social fabric under tremendous strain from the pressures of the political season.
Seventy-five percent of Americans who use social networks say their friends post political statements online, according to a new survey. Eighteen percent of users have gotten so fed up they’ve blocked, unfriended or hidden some of those friends.
If you’re on Facebook, you’ve likely also seen a fair amount of political chatter pop up on your wall or your news feed. For some people, that chatter has devolved into shifting relationships, broken friendships and strained bonds.
With more than 900 million active users on Facebook, it’s becoming an unavoidable truth that our parents, aunts and uncles, and even grandparents are creeping into the realm of social networking. Have yours?
Facebook has more than 900 million active users. It nearly impossible to avoid your family there. But have you been able to avoid the awkwardness?
Douglas Marsh describes the mixed blessing of technology in his family’s daily interactions
