Greensboro, NC -- Facebook is a place to discuss just about anything. But over the last couple weeks, it's been flooded with political posts.
Some of those posts foster constructive discussion. Others spew hate and ignorance. And some have included pleas to stop political discussion on Facebook all together, or risk being "unfriended."
"You are the creator of your own environment online," Danielle Hatfield, owner of web marketing firm Experience Farm, said. "And if someone's not contributing to the experience that you want to have, it's up to you to vote them off the island.
It's your Facebook experience, according to Hatfield. So you can say most anything you want -- and block anyone you want. But she encourages you to consider the real-life impacts of a hateful post or "unfriending" someone -- especially when Facebook can be used to change how politics work.
"Not only are we talking about the politicians and about the issues [on Facebook], we're talking with each other and we're talking with [politicians]," Hatfield said. "And talking with the politicians is something that we've really never had an opportunity to do before. And it's almost like sitting around a coffee table with a politician and being able to, hopefully, get some questions answered and share some of our concerns."
So if you want to talk politics on Facebook, Hatfield suggests you try to engage politicians -- and your friends -- in constructive dialogue, not hate. And if you don't want to see any of it, try "hiding" posts, not "unfriending" people. Click on the video on this page to see how easy it is to "hide" a post on Facebook. One Facebook blog also recommends a third-party program that will help limit how many political posts you see.
Viewers have been discussing what's OK to post on Facebook since Thursday on Philip Jones' page. Click here to join the conversation. And remember, what you post online can get you in trouble. One man was arrested Wednesday for tweeting threats against President Barack Obama.
WFMY News 2