Navigating politics with friends on Facebook
A tidal wave of political content is flooding Facebook users’ news feeds as Election Day approaches, and many users are scrambling for ways to navigate through it. Should users block or unfriend a family member, co-worker or close friend and risk triggering an uncomfortable conversation? Or is there a less-stressful substitute? 
The Social Networking Sites and Politics survey released in March by the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows the majority of social-media users — 82 percent — do not disconnect from friends with different political views.
But one in five social-media users blocks, unfriends or hides the political content posted by others who post too frequently, differ in political views, argue with the user or others, or worry the posts could offend others on their news feeds, the survey shows.
But Rick Brunson, a journalism professor at the University of Central Florida, strongly disagrees with the practice of blocking a friend on Facebook over politics because it’s “antithetical to the spirit of social media and free speech.”
“I find [the political posts] mildly irritating, but I tolerate them. I may read the posts or I may not, and then I move on,” Brunson said. “That’s part of the price you pay for stepping into a social-media platform.”
Brunson, who considers himself a “free-speech absolutist,” said social media are “all about expressing your opinion.”
Read the full story from the Orlando Sentinel by clicking here.