Hacker News Reader

Comment by curiousgal | Hacker News Reader

FB has definitely made it easier; it's just a matter of a button click. (Share button)

I was thinking about this the other day. In the pre-social network days, it was obnoxious to blast your political opinions out to your friends and family. You had to create or forward an email, and very few people did. Mostly grandparents. Now it seems that everyone can and will share their political views through a social network. Is it just that it's easier, or is there something else about the platform that invites that type of sharing?

Well, it's not only easier, but it's easy to find others that share your (obnoxious or not) opinions in various groups. So now you're in an echo chamber where your opinions will gather likes and reposts, while your friends and family might try to ignore you as best they can.

And of course, the more you associate and interact with groups that fit your opinions and interests, the more Facebook and other ad-supported services will try to prioritize showing you those posts, so the echo chamber effect is amplified.

And when you step out into the real world, you'll be inclined to think of others that don't share your "informed" opinion as uninformed or naive, after all you have seen all this evidence to back you your opinions and theories. [Edit:spelling]

I mean, it's still obnoxious, everyone bitches about _that person_ on their Facebook. Or don't they?

Everyone has _that_ person, but a lot more people share a couple posts per week, or some similar lower volume but nonetheless obnoxious posts.

Consider reddit, where anyone can create - and curate - a discussion board on any topic; or wikipedia, where topics are often heavily trolled by the self-appointed "guardians of the holy page."

In general, in these situations, it seems that the greater tyrant always seems to win, to the detriment of the community.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com