Scholars have addressed how the socially marginalized, individuals with fringe viewpoints, or the politically marginalized in authoritarian regimes use social media to organize or connect in secret. Yet intensifying partisan polarization and prejudice in the United States has made it necessary to study how mainstream partisans in liberal democracies use social media to organize in secret. This study explores why mainstream partisans in the United States—average Republicans or Democrats—organize in secret online and analyzes the unique functions of social media for political organizing amid contextual marginalization. Through interviews with group leaders and a digital ethnography of a secret Facebook group in the United States, I find that mainstream partisans use social media to form secret political groups when they are the minority in their local community and that the online secret group serves several unique functions for members. First, the group operates as a community of solidarity for those reticent to disclose their political beliefs and as a community of contention to criticize and revitalize the minority Party in their region. The group also operates as a community of practice, allowing members to learn and rehearse communication among like-minded others. These findings hold implications for how scholars study communication in a digital and polarized era and how practitioners gauge public opinion.

学者们探讨了社会边缘化，具有边缘观点的个人或独裁政权中政治边缘化的人如何使用社交媒体秘密组织或联系。然而，在美国加剧的党派分化和偏见使得研究自由民主国家的主流党派如何利用社交媒体秘密组织成为必要。这项研究探讨了为何美国主流游击党派（普通的共和党人或民主党人）在网上秘密组织，并分析了社交媒体在背景边缘化中对政治组织的独特作用。通过与小组负责人的访谈以及美国一个秘密Facebook小组的数字人种志，我发现主流游击队员在当地社区中占少数时会使用社交媒体来组成秘密政治团体，而在线秘密团体则为成员提供了多种独特功能。首先，该小组以为那些不愿透露自己的政治信仰的人提供团结的社区，以及作为批评和振兴其所在地区的少数党的争辩社区。该小组还作为实践社区运作，使成员可以学习和排练志趣相投的人之间的交流。这些发现对学者如何在数字和两极分化的时代研究传播以及从业者如何评估舆论产生了启示。