Being Nice on the Internet

I am sitting in Catherine Grevet's thesis proposal on supporting diverse opinions online (e.g., NBC News).  The intent is not to achieve some undescribed utopia, but rather establish mechanisms that encourage civil discourse.  The goal is not consensus, but rather engagement.

Looking at links and replies, links are more commonly made to similar opinions as the linker.  Replies do not have this distribution, but the replies are often incivil and not constructive.

Under what conditions do different opinions coexist in social media? If these links are being maintained, then it is possible for the opinions to coexist and suggest possibility that conditions could be identified.  Through twitter, politically active (based on sharing white house petitions) social users were contacted about how they manage this issue.  Four techniques were identified:
tuning out, long fruitless conversations, weak ties were brittle (don't want to unfriend, but...), and changing perceptions of friends.  These behaviors reinforce homophily.

Research questions:

• How does discouraging incivility impact the discourse between friends of different opinions in social media?
• How does encouraging civility impact the discourse between friends of different opinions in social media?

Using a politeness classifier, facebook plugins will be developed to adjust the design based on the classifications received.  Perhaps hiding impolite comments, or even hiding the entire post, are techniques for addressing the above question about reducing / discouraging incivility.  Toward the final question, two probes could be applied: feedback on impoliteness to encourage more civil posts and highlighting polite friends.

So keep an eye out for a new plugin!