Facebook and Politics, A Dangerous Mix?

Right now, we are in the thick of it. Political Debates, the advertisements, the newspapers and now, our social media news feeds. 

I have been seeing more and more pleas from my friends on Facebook about unfriending/ deleting people from their Facebook accounts because of "over the top" political rants being posted online. 

While I am a firm believer in free speech, I am also a firm believer in respect for other's feelings and opinions. I have seen so many hateful statements come across my own newsfeed that it caused me to want to write about it! 

I personally try to stay very neutral on Facebook. I have so many friends, acquaintances and even clients that I am connected with on Facebook- and just as they are all very different people, one can assume that they may also have varying political views.  

Particularly, if you are using Facebook for business, you want to stay as neutral as possible. Posting politcal rants on your Fan Page or Personal Page with customers on it, may cause a sense of disconnect for people just based on the fact that they don't agree with you politically. 

DickensonInteractive.com posted a great article back in March 2012 about this very subject and suggests: 
Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Not Post About Politics On Facebook. 

I love his #5 Reason: " There’s enough politics in the media. One of the reasons I use Facebook is to laugh, have fun and converse with my friends and family. I don’t use it to get worked up or stressed out over something I see that I disagree with. There’s enough political coverage in the mainstream media. More than enough. Keep it there and leave the politics to the pundits."

What do you think? 

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