Conflict Sensitive Approaches to Social Media
Created by Jesse Baen & Duncan Autrey, 2019
Learn strategies for taking a conflict sensitive approach to social media.
-
Evaluate the role of social media in your work and community through a conflict resolution lens.
-
Consider the risks and possibilities of social media
Reflection Questions
Consider the opportunities and risks related to social media and conflict in your organization
Tools and Tips
Tricks for managing conflicts on social media
Shaping the Narrative
The line between real and virtual is increasingly blurred in the age of social media. Our social and political lives are reflected and broadcast on social media and, in turn, social media shapes the narratives that transform our world. While references to social media and politics immediately bring to mind polarization, fake news, and animosity, social media also has vast positive potential for connecting widely disparate people and communities.
A conflict sensitive approach to social media usage can help individuals and organizations leverage this potential and avoid some common pitfalls.
Hallmarks of a Conflict Sensitive Approach to Social Media
- Resisting the trend toward anonymity
- Humanizing social media users
- Utilizing reflection, awareness and mindfulness to avoid needless escalation
- Decreasing the risk of misinformation
- Fostering connection and collaboration across geographic and social separation via new platforms and technologies
- Privileging face-to-face or audio communication whenever possible to avoid loss in non verbal information
Risks and Possibilities of Social Media
Social media’s capacity to cause and exacerbate conflict is due in part to the “attention economy.” A common business model in the tech world, the “attention economy” relies on content intended to produce as much internet traffic as possible, resulting in content that appeals to emotions such as fear, outrage and anger. Another potential risk of social media is the reduction in person-to-person communication in favor of brief, remote, text-based communication, which is more prone to miscommunication, simplification, and a loss of emotional exchange and empathy. Finally, social media algorithms tend to show users content based on their previous clicks, which means that users are often exposed to posts and news media that confirm their existing beliefs, thus exacerbating polarization.
The downsides of social media may, however, be counterbalanced by its positive potential, as indicated in the chart below. Some social media engineers are now focusing attention on how to design information technologies to “promote constructive consensus building over destructive polarization.”
Risks
- Disinformation, propaganda, shaming
- Security and privacy risks
- Polarization and isolation
- Text-based communication leads to lower trust levels and less satisfactory outcomes than person-to-person negotiation
Potential
- Citizen education, information sharing, empowerment and engagement
- Access to data for research and analysis
- Communication and connection across geographic and other borders; sharing of narratives
- Video-conferencing and emerging applications can promote constructive communication and connection
Social media poses specific risks as regards communication and conflict, but reflective and strategic social media use can help users avoid these risks and even contribute to connection and collaboration across lines of difference.
Reflection Questions
Examine these questions within the context of your own work or a contemporary global issue that relates to your work in social change.
- What role does social media play in my professional/political/community relationships?
- How does social media help me or my organization achieve my/our organizing goals?
- Does social media ever damage relationships or hinder the achievement of organizing goals?
- Does my identity or communication style differ online vs. offline? How?
- What types of online content, messaging or communication style tend to evoke strong reactions for me?
- Do I recall experiences of positive online engagement? What made them positive?
Note: Organizations or individuals may choose to consult with a communications or conflict resolution coach to assist in changing patterns of social media use to promote positive conflict management and community building.
Tools and Tips
Imagine the person behind the profile
- On social media, it is harder to imagine that there is a human being behind the user name.
Pause before you click!
- Remember that communication skills and conflict resolution techniques can work on social media too, but they may take a little extra time and effort than typical for our social media interactions
Consider the source of your information
- See the Humanitarian Dialogue Centre’s Peacemaking and New Technologies for tips on how to mitigate disinformation risks and use counter-disinformation tools
Talk In-Person
Before things get heated, consider face-to-face communication via online video-conferencing platforms, phone or in person. This can offer:
- Empathy and relationship-building
- Less risk of misunderstanding
- More opportunities for dialogue
Note: always consider the potential risks in making direct contact with any individual online. Remember, one can never be sure of who they are talking to online.
Join initiatives to promote connection and collaboration on social media, or create your own.
Civil society organizations are increasingly looking to social media to connect people with opposing viewpoints:
- Make America Dinner Again: In addition to in-person bipartisan political dialogues, Make America Dinner Again hosts a Facebook discussion group devoted to civil political dialogue.
- Soliya: Virtual Exchange dialogue programs for youth around the world using an online platform for dialogue, relationship-building and collaboration
Resources
How Technology and Media Shape My Experiences with (In)Civil Discourse. Poem by New York University Freshman Garcia, Aspen Institute’s 2017 Youth & Engagement Programs’ convening, Civil Discourse in a Fractured Age.
Report by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue: Peacemaking and New Technologies.
Social Media and Conflict Prevention. United States Institute of Peace. (Lists examples of international peacemakers harnessing the power of social media to prevent conflict.)