Taking Offence on Social Media: Conviviality and Communication on Facebook (1st ed. 2017 edition.)

Explores communication on Facebook, developing the new theoretical concept of context design as a way of understanding the dynamics of online interaction.

Against a backdrop of fake news and other controversies surrounding online political debate, the authors focus on inadvertent acts of offence on Facebook; that is, when users of the site unwittingly offend or are offended by the airing of political or religious views, or of opinions deemed racist or sexist.

Drawing on a survey of Facebook users, they explain why instances of offence occur and what users report doing in response.