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Polarizing politics plays out in social media feeds

Posted at 7:03 PM, Jan 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-23 22:52:01-05

With the inauguration of President Donald Trump and Women's Marches across the country the day after, many social media feeds have been inundated with political posts.

Viewer Gwendolyn says "I find myself spending less time on Facebook to the due the political rhetoric."  

Others have even hit the unfollow button or even if some cases deleted Facebook friends over politics.

People across the valley say they've been on both sides of the chopping block.

Carol says "I have deleted a bunch of so called friends" during and after the election.  

While Brian says he "lost 6 friends because I support Donald Trump."

UNLV Emerging Media Professor Ben Burroughs says this polarizing political climate has been playing out on social media even more lately.

"Everyone's got a story like that ... or a political meme that just had to share," he says.

Burroughs says it's become so easy to simplify something as complex as politics into a simple meme, viral video or tweet. He also says politics has been playing out on social media even more than in elections past, and that many people are tailoring their circle of Facebook friends because of it.

"We have a thousand people on our feed and maybe we really know 150 of them so we're OK with cutting with someone we don't want to see anymore," Burroughs says.