From Networked Nominee to Networked Nation: Examining the Impact of Web 2.0 and Social Media on Political Participation and Civic Engagement in the 2008 Obama Campaign

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 189-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derrick L. Cogburn ◽  
Fatima K. Espinoza-Vasquez
Author(s):  
Mariëlle Wijermars

AbstractThe chapter discusses the impact of digitalization and the rise of online and social media on Russian politics and political participation. It departs from the question whether the introduction of digital technologies has resulted in the transformation of Russian politics in ways that go beyond the mere replication of political practices in digital form. Placing its analysis in the context of Open Government thinking, the chapter examines four areas: first, it discusses changes in political communication; second, it examines the impact of online communications on political campaigning; third, the chapter reflects on changes in the voting process; and, finally, it critically examines digital tools for political participation (so-called civic technologies) and civic engagement.


Author(s):  
Collen Sabao ◽  
Tendai Owen Chikara

The chapter examines and discusses the role and communicative potential of social media based platforms in citizen political participation and protests in Zimbabwe specifically focusing on the #thisflag movement on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp. #thisflag is a social media-based platform that rose to challenge the Zimbabwean government over the political and economic decay as well as rampant corruption characterising the country contemporarily. While a new phenomenon to Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean politics, the impact and communicative potential of social media as an alternative public sphere was recently tested in nationwide protest stayaway organised through the Facebook and Twitter movement under the #thisflag handle/brand. This chapter discusses the manners in which such social media platforms impact national politics in Zimbabwe as well as globally, specifically looking at the #thisflag movement as a case study.


Author(s):  
Nozha Erragcha

Within the new economic and social environment, development of new technologies combined with Internet progress has had a profound impact on consumer lifestyles and, by extension, marketing concepts and practices. Understanding changes in marketing brought by a fast-acting development of digital social networks and Web 2.0 technology has become essential. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the impact of Web 2.0 on marketing and how marketers can use evolving technologies. Our contribution aligns changes in marketing techniques with Internet development and the changes introduced by the transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. The chapter ends with a proposal of about potential implications for managers.


2020 ◽  
pp. 772-786
Author(s):  
Collen Sabao ◽  
Tendai Owen Chikara

The chapter examines and discusses the role and communicative potential of social media based platforms in citizen political participation and protests in Zimbabwe specifically focusing on the #thisflag movement on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp. #thisflag is a social media-based platform that rose to challenge the Zimbabwean government over the political and economic decay as well as rampant corruption characterising the country contemporarily. While a new phenomenon to Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean politics, the impact and communicative potential of social media as an alternative public sphere was recently tested in nationwide protest stayaway organised through the Facebook and Twitter movement under the #thisflag handle/brand. This chapter discusses the manners in which such social media platforms impact national politics in Zimbabwe as well as globally, specifically looking at the #thisflag movement as a case study.


Author(s):  
Harrison Hao Yang ◽  
Na Yao ◽  
Pinde Chen

This chapter provides an overview of websites of higher education institutions. It then discusses the impact of emergent Web 2.0 technologies and social media on the online communication and society, and presents a study focusing on trends and issues of the development on websites of higher education institutions. The results of the study in this chapter indicates that under the influence of Web 2.0 and social media, websites of higher education institutions have been developed on: building a strong sense of community via embedding social networking tools, endorsing open education via sharing multimedia resources, and enriching users’ experience via offering self-service. The study also indicates that in order to develop effective websites, authenticity and digital citizenship should be considered and managed by administrators and technologists of higher education institutions.


Author(s):  
Galit Margalit Ben-Israel

This article deals with citizen engagement and public participation being in crisis on the Israeli home front, in the era of Web 2.0. Since 2004, Web 2.0 characterizes changes that allow users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter, blogs, wikis, YouTube, hosted services, applications, WhatsApp, etc. Since 2006, Israel is involved in asymmetric conflicts. The research defines the impact of Web 2.0 on public engagement in the Israeli home front. The case studies examined in the research are: 1) The 2006 Lebanon War (July-August 2006); 2) The Gaza War (27 December 2008 and ended on 18 January 2009); 3) Operation Pillar of Defense (November 2012); and 4) The 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.


Author(s):  
Roman Pyrma

The study contributes to defining the impact of digital communication on civic and political participation, explaining how social media mediate public activism. Based on the concept of the ‘digital citizenship’ the paper reveals the political aspect of the public activism of Russian youth online. The empirical model is based on a combination of methods and procedures of applied research in order to reveal the details of civil and political participation, and protest activism of youth online. The research model includes analysis of social media and a large-scale online survey of the younger audience. Based on the analysis of social media information flows, the paper states the prevalence of the youth’s civic participation over political participation, as well as the fact that the dynamics of social activity depend on the events and the current agenda. The authors describe the level of civic and political activity of youth online based on sociological data. They also divide the audience of the protest theatre according to the following models: leaders, activists, followers, and spectators. In general, the study reveals the status and details of the younger generation’s communication activity online, where communities establish and implications of linking actions appear.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiru Pillay ◽  
Manoj S. Maharaj

Background: The impact and consequences of social media adoption on society are only just being realised and studied in detail; consequently, there is no universal agreement as to the reasons for the adoption of these services. Even understanding why some social media services are popular remains to some extent elusive. The practical use of Web 2.0 does not provide any answers either with, for example, a noticeable difference in the way social media was strategically used by Barack Obama and Mitch Romney in the lead-up to the 2009 American elections. However, recent studies that have focused on social media adoption within specific sectors have begun to shed some light on these emerging adoption patterns; two studies in particular are illustrative: a 2012 study on the newspaper sector and a study on social media adoption and e-government.Objectives: This study investigates why South African civil society organisations (CSOs) adopt Web 2.0 services and the perceived and actual benefits of such adoption.Method: A survey questionnaire was sent to 1712 South African CSOs listed in the Prodder database to explore why certain social media services were adopted and the perceived benefits thereof.Results: Internal reasons for the adoption of social media services by South African CSOs coalesce around organisational visibility and access to information. External reasons focus on organisations needing to become more relevant and more connected to like-minded organisations and initiatives.Conclusion: The pervasiveness of Web 2.0 technologies makes it inevitable that CSOs will have to restructure themselves to remain relevant.


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