Examining How Social and Emotional Factors Inform Response to Cross-Cutting Political Views on Social Media

Abstract

While social media creates the opportunity for exposure and engagement with cross-cutting political views, they may not always be well-received. Drawing on research related to tie strength, the need to belong, and affective intelligence theory, the present study examined how a combination of social and emotional factors informed how social media users respond to exposure to cross-cutting political views. Survey participants ( N = 288) were presented with scenarios where they were exposed to cross-cutting views on a self-identified important political topic with a close friend and an acquaintance. Social media response strategies assessed included public (comment), private (messaging), ignoring (scrolling past), hiding (muting), and unfriending–unfollowing. The tie strength of the person posting and emotions toward a political topic were identified as salient factors. Results indicated that if the cross-cutting view was shared by a strong tie, participants were more likely to respond by engaging publicly or private messaging, while cross-cutting views shared by weak ties were more likely to lead to ignoring the post as well as the decision to hide or unfriend. Participants also identified how they felt about the political topic selected (enthusiasm, aversion, or anxiety). Anxiety was largely unrelated to the identified response strategies, while aversion predicted the same responses regardless of tie strength. Enthusiasm predicted public and private response for both ties, and predicted ignoring (negative), hiding, and unfriending for close friends.