Does Social Media Erode Democracy in Haringey?

by spreading untruth and outrage, corroding voters’ judgment and aggravating partisanship, social media erode the conditions for liberty.

(adapted from The Economist)

In the latest edition of the Economist there's an interesting leader which picks up on the theme of considering the harm that can be done to democracy by social media.

We've come a long way since the idealistic days of the mid-noughties when HoL started. It's been an interesting learning for us all. My own path follows the one experienced by many of us; I used only to see the potential social media has to create connections and to amplify the voices and power of the powerless. I now see that it can also be corosive.

It would be remiss of me not to wonder about the very small part HoL plays in this picture. In the early days we set out a policy to try and deal with bad behaviour and misuse of the platform. Over the years I occasionally read comments that fall clearly the wrong side of the lines we drew and they, or their authors, are easily dealt with. What's more troublesome are the comments in the grey areas, the ones that aren't too bad and are hedged around with enough caution that you feel they ought to be left for the sake of allowing debate. But with many I'm left feeling quite comfortable about letting them stand. It all leaves me wondering about the impact of sites like HoL.

So one of the vague streams of thought this week's Economist leader triggered was about HoL and social media more widely in Haringey. Does the chatter as well as the debate it encourages serve us well, I wonder.