Digg

Welcome to our first guest blog post! We're looking for community members with a true passion for social media. If you love to write, have strong opinions about social media, and want to be featured on Digg then shoot us an email with your big idea!

We're excited to kick this off with a 2+ year veteran of Digg, dirtyfries! He's an all-around good guy and loves discussing politics, as many of you may know! Check out his post right below...

Thanks!
Dan Huard
Community Manager
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In an episode of Futurama, robotic Bender once exclaimed his normally binary dreams were invaded in a nightmare by a two. His friend Fry quickly proclaims, “There’s no such thing as two!”

Political discourse in the United States has always been somewhat of a binary affair; one side proclaiming “Yay!” while the other side cries “Nay!” That’s why it seems somewhat fitting that the latest political battleground is one predicated not on swords or ballots, but one comprised of ones and zeroes.

Social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Digg threaten to prove Fry wrong, tossing a two into the mix, as well as a three, four, or five. Political opinions are as varied on the Internet as there are users, numbering nearly two billion this year and growing.

Sites walk a tenuous line, requiring inclusion of as many groups as possible to remain viable as an information destination, but also maintaining an atmosphere that users actually want to partake in. It’s important for all groups, even fringe ones, to feel included. If for no other reason than it’s downright silly to think that only one or two parties have a monopoly on all the good ideas in the world. In a time when anyone can have only the news they care about RSS’d straight to their phone or screen, how does a site appear neutral to users with preconceptions?

We live in a time when the news we want to hear and the arguments we want to engage in are dictated on our own terms thanks to filters and feeds. It makes regulating civil political discussion difficult without being labeled biased. For anyone who has ever entered a forum without any level of moderation, you know how quickly civility goes down the drain in lieu of personal attacks. But moderation is tricky, because it leaves all the editorial power in the hands of a few, faceless users with banhammers.

Remove the fear of social reprisal and people are certainly more inclined to say what they think, politics being no exception. Faceless anonymity is somewhat a hallmark of the Internet. 4-chan founder Christopher Poole just this week proclaimed at SXSW that “anonymity is authenticity”.And to a certain point, he may be right.

This is where the current crop of social media sites comes in. When dealing with political discourse on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the guise of anonymity is lifted. I have, on more than one occasion posted an article on Facebook that gets quite a few of my friends riled up. It can get pretty dicey and you’re stuck knowing people might actually be annoyed with you the next time they see you. Real-life social burying goes into full effect.

If Mark Zuckerberg has his way, we’ll all soon be proclaiming our political preference via Like buttons. No doubt this is one more piece of data mining that Mr. Zuckerberg and his cohort over at Facebook can use to some marketing advantage.

To that end, it raises an interesting question: What are the responsibilities of a social networking site when dealing with political discourse? Unlike the aforementioned lack of anonymity on sites like Facebook, Digg is comprised of a community of people with nothing but a handle as an identity. I have, on more than one occasion, buried a story simply because it disagrees with me. I’ve also been more inclined to label someone a bigot or a racist or an idiot knowing I likely won’t ever see this person. But beyond the argumentative userbase, there’s the “troll”.

We’ve all experienced one. The troll is the commenter that lurks every article about your favorite politician or partisan cause. They never type an intellectual comment; they always say something downright crude or inane, recycling talking points immune to logic and reason. We bury them on Digg. A worthy feature I think should be brought back is the ability to block such animals. Filter out the noise. Report the offenders and Digg staff will differentiate who is a troll and who is just passionately opinionated.

It would be easy to proffer that Digg and other social networks should follow the example set forth in reality, that knee-jerk comments and actions are met with swift punishment (in this case bans or suspensions). But the sad truth is that reality is rarely better. Our own elected politicians, pundits and newsmakers routinely slander the opposition (often using social media as the tool to spread the words of divisiveness), be it for ratings or just armed with the knowledge that the American public doesn’t care enough to do anything about it.

However, all is not lost. While it can be disheartening to see a story that’s almost entirely false (either from lack of fact-checking or simply too much spin) rise to the front page of Digg, it’s often relieving to see the same story knocked off the front page as the information is challenged by people who choose to use their free time in the pursuit of posting valuable, factual links to debunk the tripe.

Living in a social media world, like every community, is about people. It’s not the place of a site to monitor the content for factual cohesion, but to let the community police itself. Trolls with multiple reports should be banned, at which point they can opt to improve or remain excluded. The best a user can do is keep an open mind and show others respect, being mindful what you type is public forever. Administrators need only monitor for obvious abuses, leaving the community to thrive.

We can easily wrap ourselves in an echo-chamber of our own making by visiting sites that never challenge our view and befriend only other users who reinforce our own beliefs. We make our own reality, even if that reality isn’t the one beyond the glowing monitor in front of you. Social networking caters to these tastes, so take yours beyond binary.

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The views expressed in this guest post are not necessarily those of Digg, Inc.