Sometimes, we're discouraged from expressing our unpopular opinions because of the adverse reactions we might get from the people around us. Whether we’re talking about politics, religion, or popular culture, sharing our deepest beliefs can make someone feel pretty irritated. 

However, while some end up scratching their heads from confusion, others see a like-minded person and gladly show their support in heated discussions. After all, a controversial point of view does not instantly mean that it’s uncommon. When you push your fears of being the odd one to the side, it’s much likely you'll encounter others sharing the same thoughts as you. 

Brandwatch, a digital consumer intelligence company, was on a mission to investigate the most popular unpopular opinions on social media. They looked at consumers’ mentions from January 1 to June 30, 2020, excluding news, retweets, and shares. Results showed that 1.6M people shared their controversial beliefs in this period. Also, there were 34% more mentions during the lockdown compared to the four months prior. 

When it comes to the topics people touch on, the top ones were about characters in pop culture, TV shows, dislike of fandoms, and books. People shared their complaints about some of the bestsellers of the century and aired their grievances about how some shows have become outdated. For example, 34K mentions called out Friends "for being hugely popular, despite some aspects not being acceptable today." 

The researchers also looked into Reddit, where 958K users shared their gripes. "It seems like lockdown got to Reddit users, too. Posts to r/UnpopularOpinions increased 105%." They found that many of these mentions touched on things that happened on the platform itself. Most of them were focused on sports players, subreddits, and seeing change as not being good. 

So while it can be fun to share your controversial views online, they also let others say opposing views, have heated discussions, and see things from different perspectives. Anna Akbari, P.hD., is a sociologist, writer, and speaker who shared her thoughts on why unpopularity isn’t necessarily a bad thing in a piece on The Psychology Today. 

She explained that if we want to be happy, successful, and feel of service, we don’t actually need to appeal to the masses. "See, we’re complicated beings, each with our own unique experiences, full of biases and contradictions and, hopefully, a point of view," she wrote. "Having a point of view is a good thing, even when that view isn’t universally embraced."

While we can wholeheartedly stand by one issue, we can also not see eye to eye on another. "Agreeing to disagree on most things in life is fine—assuming it doesn’t restrict the liberty or human rights of others. It’s when we start to think that we need to agree on everything all the time to merely function together that we get into trouble," Akbari mentioned. 

Needless to say, popularity isn’t essentially bad. Lots of things that are commonly and generally accepted by our society are considered as "safe". Akbari explained that we don’t have to immediately or categorically reject the popular stuff but rather "selectively embrace it, or at least occasionally challenge it."

However, if your views are not clinging to the mainstream popular or if they tend to stir some unexpected or even rude reactions, "don't despair. You don’t need to bend toward conformity, and you may even be able to cash in—financially and socially—on stepping outside the conventional bounds."

She mentioned two rules that people who tend to lean into unpopularity should remember. The first one is that you should actually believe what you’re saying or doing. "Disagreeing for the sport of it is annoying and, rightfully, no one likes or respects you if you do that. So stop it," the sociologist advised. 

"The second rule is to embrace your unpopular opinions with the knowledge and grace that not everyone shares your point of view," she continued. This rule can be quite tough since we humans have a general tendency to want others to agree with us. After all, it makes us feel heard and valued. 

However, following this guideline "starts with a promise to both give up convincing other people to buy into your less popular opinions and to stop shaming them for their own thoughts and actions." 

After that, it’s all about trusting yourself. If you believe that some things are just not right, don’t be shy and share your views with others because, chances are, there are people out there just like you. According to Akbari, there is value in dissent. "There’s often truth at the fringes and insight in unpopular perspectives. Greatness comes neither from blindly following nor from knee-jerk rejecting."

"Many of our greatest historical figures held really, really unpopular opinions. They did stuff that made people cringe or even retaliate against them. Going against the grain takes guts. And that courage is admirable, even if we disagree with what they’re saying or doing—but only when executed with integrity from a place of personal honesty," she wrote.