(Dis-)respectful public discussions online : insights on audience polarization and formation of radical hate or support groups

Abstract

Debates related to the quality of online discussions are quickly engaging scholars from different fields, but still, there is no single answer if we can expect online discussions to be deliberative enough for the establishment and maintenance of a well-functioning public sphere online. In this paper, I presume that respect is an essential category determining overall quality of online public discussions. Therefore, I assess if discussions from a preselected Facebook page on climate change are respectful. I find that in comparison to similar face-to-face settings, members of preselected discussions are quite respectful to each other. On the other hand, foul language is often used to address outside actors or groups. In turn, I link these results to the phenomenon of audience polarization online and conclude that in my sample, discussions cannot be of good quality because they are dominated by similarly thinking members, which possibly leads to polarization and generation of support and/or hate groups.