scholarly journals Political implications of disconnection on social media: A study of politically motivated unfriending

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482199999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinfeng Zhu ◽  
Marko M Skoric
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Political Expression ◽  
Safe Spaces ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Distinct Role

This study examines the political implications of social media through the lens of digital disconnectivity. Specifically, it focuses on politically motivated unfriending and examines its influence on individuals’ political engagement, namely political expression and information consumption on social media. Furthermore, considering the importance of minority–majority relations for understanding disconnection phenomena, we investigate whether the impact of unfriending is more pronounced among opinion minorities than majorities. Using a two-wave panel survey conducted in the post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong, we find that politically motivated unfriending predicts an increased level of political expression, but that it is only significant among people who perceive themselves as holding minority opinions. At the same time, we find no relationship between unfriending and information consumption on social media. Based on the findings, we discuss the implications of unfriending for building digital “safe spaces” and its distinct role in promoting political engagement in times of political conflicts.

scholarly journals College Students and Online Political Expression During the 2016 Election

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 422-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth W. Moffett ◽  
Laurie L. Rice
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Expression ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Online Forms ◽  
Oriented Activity

While college students traditionally exhibit low levels of political participation and interest in politics, they are more likely to engage in some forms of political expression than their elders. Their greater familiarity with online forms of political expression and engagement potentially lowers their barriers for political involvement. In turn, this potentially draws more young adults into the political process. The authors compare the precursors of expressive forms of online political engagement to those of talking to someone off-line and trying to persuade them to vote for or against a candidate or party among college students. They find that both activities are positively connected with politically oriented activity on social media as well as the frequency with which one reads blogs. They also discover that the mechanisms that explain online political expression are both similar to and different from those that explain off-line attempts at persuasion in several key ways.

scholarly journals The (No-)Public Space. Reviewing the Transformation of Al-Qaed Ibrahim's Urban Image

2020 ◽  
pp. 177-192
Author(s):  
Iman Hegazy
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Political ◽  
Urban Image ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Public spaces are defined as places that should be accessible to all inhabitants without restrictions. They are spaces not only for gathering, socializing and celebrating but also for initiating discussions, protesting and demonstrating. Thus, public spaces are intangible expressions of democracy—a topic that the paper tackles its viability within the context of Alexandria, case study Al-Qaed Ibrahim square. On the one hand, Al-Qaed Ibrahim square which is named after Al-Qaed Ibrahim mosque is a sacred element in the urban fabric; whereas on the other it represents a non-religious revolutionary symbol in the Alexandrian urban public sphere. This contradiction necessitates finding an approach to study the characteristic of this square/mosque within the Alexandrian context—that is to realize the impact of the socio-political events on the image of Al-Qaed Ibrahim square, and how it has transformed into a revolutionary urban symbol and yet into a no-public space. The research revolves around the hypothesis that the political events taking place in Egypt after January 25th, 2011, have directly affected the development of urban public spaces, especially in Alexandria. Therefore methodologically, the paper reviews the development of Al-Qaed Ibrahim square throughout the Egyptian socio-political changes, with a focus on the square’s urban and emotional contextual transformations. For this reason, the study adheres to two theories: the "city elements" by Kevin Lynch and "emotionalizing the urban" by Frank Eckardt. The aim is not only to study the mentioned public space but also to figure out the changes in people’s societal behaviour and emotion toward it. Through empowering public spaces, the paper calls the different Egyptian political and civic powers to recognize each other, regardless of their religious, ethnical or political affiliations. It is a step towards replacing the ongoing political conflicts, polarization, and suppression with societal reconciliation, coexistence, and democracy.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study on Social Media Use and Public Participation in Korea and the United States: Does Social Media Matter?

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-230
Author(s):  
Kim Eun Yi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Interaction Effect ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
The Impact

This study examines how the use of different types of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, affects public participation, drawing on the theory of motivation, which addresses the effect of internal and external political efficacy as well as the perceived political importance of social media. The study also investigates the interaction effect between social media use and perceived the political importance of social media on public participation. Employing a comparative perspective on an issue that has not been well studied, the study further seeks to discover potential variations in the impacts of different social media on public participation in the United States and Korea, both of which held presidential elections at the end of 2012. This study conducted hierarchical multiple regression analyses using data collected from college students in the United States and Korea. It shows the positive impact of social media use and its interaction effect with the perceived political importance of social media on the offline and online public participation of youth. The political motivational factor is found to be critical to driving public participation. This study also shows that the impact of Facebook use is more influential than Twitter use on public participation in the United States, whereas the opposite pattern is observed in Korea.

Social Media as Alternative Public Sphere for Citizen Participation and Protest in National Politics in Zimbabwe

2018 ◽  
pp. 17-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collen Sabao ◽  
Tendai Owen Chikara
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact

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.

Social Media as Alternative Public Sphere for Citizen Participation and Protest in National Politics in Zimbabwe

2020 ◽  
pp. 772-786
Author(s):  
Collen Sabao ◽  
Tendai Owen Chikara
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact

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.

On Günther Anders, political media theory, and nuclear violence

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 1110-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babette Babich
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Media Theory ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The Media ◽  
Political Media

Günther Anders was a philosopher concerned with the political and social implications of power, both as expressed in the media and its tendency to elide the citizenry and thus the very possibility of democracy and the political implications of our participation in our own subjugation in the image of modern social media beginning with radio and television. Anders was particularly concerned with two bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II, and he was just as concerned with the so-called ‘peaceful’ uses of nuclear power, what he named our apocalypse-blindness and the urgency of violence. To make this case I draw on Baudrillard on ‘speech without response’ and Gadamer on conversation.

Social Media Data and the Dynamics of Thai Protests

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 545-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Nyblade ◽  
Angela O’Mahony ◽  
Aim Sinpeng
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Social Media Analysis ◽  
Social Media Data ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Media Data

Traditional techniques used to study political engagement—interviews, ethnographic research, surveys—rely on collection of data at a single or a few points in time and/or from a small sample of political actors. They lead to a tendency in the literature to focus on “snapshots” of political engagement (as in the analysis of a single survey) or draw from a very limited set of sources (as in most small group ethnographic work and interviewing). Studying political engagement through analysis of social media data allows scholars to better understand the political engagement of millions of people by examining individuals’ views on politics in their own voices. While social media analysis has important limitations, it provides the opportunity to see detailed “video” of political engagement over time that provides an important complement to traditional methods. We illustrate this point by drawing on social media data analysis of the protests and election in Thailand from October 2013 through February 2014.

Hegemony, Contestation, and Empowerment: The Politics of Law and Society Studies in South Korea

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-304
Author(s):  
Chulwoo LEE
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Law And Society ◽  
Empirical Science ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Academic Practices ◽  
New Generation

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.(Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach, 1845)It can never be the task of an empirical science to provide binding norms and ideals from which directives for immediate practical activity can be derived.(Max Weber, Objectivity of Social Science and Social Policy, 1904)AbstractThis paper traces the development of law and society studies in South Korea, elucidates the political implications of the academic practices of law and society scholars, and identifies the forms of their political engagement. It canvasses the situation of law and society studies in the pre- and post-Liberation periods and analyzes the changes that have occurred since law and society came to be studied and taught in universities. The paper shows how the early generations of scholarship were sidestepped in the 1980s by the so-called “third-generation legal scholarship” and delineates the counter-hegemonic movement launched by the new generation of scholars. It throws light on the empowerment of critical law and society scholars in the post-democratization phases of the 1990s and 2000s, when many of those scholars actively participated in policy-making and civil advocacy, and discusses the tensions in those developments.

scholarly journals Efectos del framing en diseños de realismo experimental. Consumo de encuadres y compromiso político en la campaña electoral mexicana de 2018

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Muñiz ◽  
Martín Echeverría
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The Political ◽  
News Frames ◽  
Content Consumption ◽  
Experimental Realism ◽  
Issue Frames ◽  
Informative Content ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Medios De Comunicacion

International literature demonstrates the influence of news media on the political attitudes and behaviors of citizens, stemming from the coverage and framing of politics. In the context of election campaigns, this news framing effect has usually been analyzed based on experimental designs, mainly through the manipulation of strategic game and issue frames. However, the need to conduct studies with greater realism has recently been raised, to increase the external validity and generalization of the findings. This approach, called experimental realism, seeks to link media content with opinion measurements to generate consumption indicators of certain types of news frames. Taking this procedure as a reference, this paper presents results on the impact of informative content consumption, focused on either the electoral strategy or programmatic proposals, in the development of the political engagement of citizens during the 2018 Mexican presidential campaign. The findings reveal an important effect of issue frame consumption on citizen political engagement according to all the measured indicators. Resumen La bibliografía internacional ha permitido determinar la influencia de los medios de comunicación en la generación de actitudes y comportamientos políticos de los ciudadanos, a partir de su cobertura de la política y en particular del framing de las noticias durante las campañas, de tipo asunto político y juego estratégico. Aunque habitualmente estos estudios se han elaborado desde diseños experimentales clásicos, recientemente se ha planteado la necesidad de realizar estudios de mayor validez externa y capacidad de generalización, llamados de realismo experimental, que vinculan contenidos mediáticos con mediciones de opinión para generar indicadores de consumo de cierto tipo de encuadres. Tomando este procedimiento como referente, el artículo presenta los resultados sobre el impacto del consumo de contenido informativo, enfocado ya sea desde la estrategia electoral o bien en las propuestas programáticas, en el desarrollo del compromiso político de los ciudadanos durante la campaña presidencial mexicana de 2018. Los resultados muestran un importante efecto del consumo del encuadre de asunto político sobre el compromiso ciudadano en todos los indicadores medidos.

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