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Social Media and Self-censorship

Social Media and Self-censorship

"Stand out on social media," they said.

"How do I do that?" she said.

"Just write a Tweet that will outrage everyone in the world," they said.

"OK," she said.

"YOLO."

That's how I imagine Pebble Hooper's conversation with the voices in her head went before she deeply offended an entire nation in just 136 characters last month:

Copped some slack, she did. But she's not the only New Zealander to outwardly express a thought that should've been kept inward recently; July was a bumper month for offensive social media behaviour in New Zealand. Radio personality Dom Harvey copped some for posting a revealing image of Dancing With The Stars contestant Crystal Chenery's crutch. New Zealand weightlifter Douglas Sekone-Fraser was sent home from the Pacific Games after referring to Papua New Guinea locals as 'cannibals' in two Instagram posts. So what is it that keeps these people posting controversial, insensitive or offensive things to social media?

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Many users want to appear interesting, entertaining or funny on social media and we've all got our own regrets; that feeling of self-doubt as we hit the post button is an internationally relatable emotion.


That feeling is what we call self-censorship. Although it's a relatively unexplored area, in 2013 Facebook conducted a study to look into how this feeling affects the way we publish updates to social media.

Over a period of 17 days, Facebook tracked the activity of 3.9 million users (studying the actions but not the content). A surprising 71 per cent of users typed out at least one status or comment and then decided not to submit it. On average, they changed their mind on 4.5 statuses and 3.2 comments.

The study also found that people with more boundaries to regulate censor more; males censor more posts than females and censor even more posts with mostly male friends. Users, such as Pebbles, who have a considerable following with politically and age diverse friends tend to censor less.

It's users who don't employ self-censorship, such as Pebbles, who stand out on social media. They're the ones who thrive off controversy and debate and are sadly encouraged by a like or a follow. Sure, these people prompt online conversation and there's nothing wrong with a little debate, but there's a line to draw: keep elitist, xenophobic, sexist, and racist comments to yourself, OK?

Hannah Greenslade-Yeats


ENDS

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