All content described here is currently a work in progress but is protected by the terms of use statement.

Other SNSs do not focus specifically on political discussion, thus they are not an ideal social space for addressing political issues. Often users may have political views they wish to share but feel that their normal social networking resources are more based on friendly interactions that should remain upbeat. Many fear the disruption of awkwardness, or even hostility, that can be brought on by political debate in their casual social network. A socialmediatoday.com article by site owner Chris Syme (2013) illustrates this point well when it advises users to avoid topics of political nature if one fears potentially alienating members of their social network (2013). Digital Citizen provides a space separate from casual or professional networks in which users can control privacy and identity as they share political views with whomever they chose and shed any concerns they had about controversy amongst peers. If users want to share their Digital Citizen content with as many people as possible, they will find it easy to link content to other social networks and make their profile content public.

Upon account creation, users will view and agree to a code of conduct statement that will promote civil behavior on the site. There will always be some users who fail to control their emotions and post slanderous, offensive, or otherwise harmful content. The agreement is simple, informing users that such behavior is not tolerated by the site, and that they can be suspended or banned if they are reported for use of profanity, or posting disturbing or sexual content. Because this site is political, and much of the content controversial in nature, much of what is posted might be considered offensive to some while perfectly acceptable to others, and this means that a user has to have a higher degree of tolerance for the expression of opposing views. The protection of free speech is crucial to Digital Citizen and it does not wish to remove any content entered by its users, but when content is inflammatory and unproductive in civilized debate, it can hinder the goal of exchanging ideas productively.

Note: Development of a virtual jury system may be explored in the future.