Good-faith disagreements are a normal part of society and building strong relationships.
But theres another factor thats often overlooked: the design of social media itself.
My colleagues and I investigatedhow the design of social media affects online disagreementsand how to design for constructive arguments.
We surveyed and interviewed 257 people about their experiences with online arguments and how design could help.
(Full disclosure: I receive research funding from Facebook.)
People can spend a lot of time on a social media site and not engage in arguments (e.g.
YouTube) or find it nearly impossible to avoid arguments on certain platforms (e.g.
Facebook and WhatsApp).
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One participant said, on Facebook, Sometimes you dont admit your failures because other people are looking.
The organization of messages also allowed people to keep the focus on the discussion at hand.
Unlike Facebook and WhatsApp, YouTube is centered around video content.
We showed them storyboards of features that could be added to social media.
Another said, this would save a lot of people embarrassment from arguing in public.
They were hopeful that design could help them find more common ground with others online.
Yet, people are also wary of technologys potential to become intrusive during an already sensitive interpersonal exchange.
For instance, a well-intentioned but naive intervention could backfire and come across as creepy and too much.
However, our subjects thought it could end up frustrating people further and derail the conversation.
Social media developers can take steps to foster constructive disagreements online through design.
