The 2019 General Election was one marked by a series of trends and Facebook groups was amongst them.
The growing role that Facebook groups has played I’ve blogged about before here.
I’m a member of several Facebook groups across the country and things ranged from the carefully considered to the hugely fighty.
BBC Trending caught the zeitgeist with this post on how the election was playing out.
Once upon a time people may have filed into town halls or village squares to debate the issues of the day. Now modern technology makes it easier for people to engage in political debate, especially in the depths of a British winter.
But social media can also suck in those who never intended to spend their evenings arguing with strangers about politics.
Unlike the village square, on Facebook you can’t look someone in the eye or read the tone of their voice. That distance means people sometimes suspend their usual social niceties. The job of keeping things on track falls to volunteer moderators.
It’s easy for conversations to get hijacked. Those who come for the hedgehog photos may end up getting sweary rants about politics instead.
The full BBC Trending post is here.