Intolerant versus uncivil: Examining types, directions and deliberative attributes of incivility on Facebook versus Twitter

This study was an attempt to understand incivility, intolerance, and deliberative attributes on social media. Instead of solely focusing on incivility, this study distinguished incivility from intolerance and examined these two concepts in the context of public comments on two social media platforms. More specifically, in the study, we conducted content analyses to examine whether uncivil and intolerant comments vary based on platforms and topic sensitivity, as well as the relationship between uncivil and intolerant discourse and deliberative attributes. The results revealed that incivility occurred on both platforms but that a significant difference existed between Facebook and Twitter in terms of intolerant comments. The results also showed a positive relationship between topic sensitivity and intolerance. Finally, we found that Facebook discussions were 46 percent more likely than Twitter discussions to contain deliberative comments