Facebook as a public deliberative space: Social media, Deliberation and Public Sphere

ABSTRACT In the past decade or so, populism and social media have been outstanding issues both in academia and the public sphere. At this point, evidence from multiple countries suggest that perceived parallels between the dynamics of social media and the mechanics of populist discourse may be more than just incidental, relating to a shared structural field. This article suggests one possible path towards making sense of how the dynamics of social media and the mechanics of populist mobilization have co-produced each other in the last decade or so. Navigating the interface between anthropology and linguistics, it takes key aspects of Victor Turner’s notion of liminality to suggest some of the ways in which social media’s anti-structural affordances may help lay a foundation for the contemporary flourishing of populist discourse: markers of social structure are suspended; communitas is formed; the culture core is addressed; mimesis and anti-structural inversions are performed; subjects become influenceable. I elaborate on this claim based on Brazilian materials, drawn from online ethnography on pro-Bolsonaro WhatsApp groups and other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook since 2018.

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Commodification In Public Sphere; The Fight Of Ideology Through Social Media

Jurnal Kopis: Kajian Penelitian dan Pemikiran Komunikasi Penyiaran Islam ◽

10.33367/kpi.v3i01.1578 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (01) ◽

pp. 37-50

Author(s):

Arina Rohmatul Hidayah ◽

Moch. Mukhlison

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Law Enforcement ◽

Literature Review ◽

Public Sphere ◽

Point Of View ◽

Critical Perspective ◽

Political Interests ◽

Law Enforcement Agency ◽

Valid Data ◽

News Editor

This paper wants to present a critical perspective in reading the discourse that has been played on social media in the last few days. With literature review method, the KPK Taliban is a form of discourse in which ideological values which are basically the principle of a person or group in determining the direction and purpose of how to proceed, are modified in such a way as to be sold or made into public commodities for political interests. The use of the term Taliban which is associated with hardline of Islam, wants to form an Islamic government in accordance with Islamic laws, is considered have a high 'selling power' so that it can be used to reduce the image of KPK as a law enforcement agency. Like a word, every journalist will try to make interesting headline to get a high view of readers. This term can seem to describe that there has been an internal radicalization in KPK that has created a system of eradicating selective corruption based on the ideology of investigator. From this point of view, social media can be said to be an easy facilitator to explore discourses of this kind. Due to the absence of a gate keeper or news editor, anyone who has an interest in them is free to release any statement even if it is not accompanied by valid data. Even rational and critical discussions such as the basic concept of public sphere are transformed into irrational

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Social Media and Youth’s Political Activism: Emergence of a Networked Public Sphere in Pakistan

ISSUE1 - Journal of Peace, Development & Communication ◽

10.36968/jpdc-v04-i02-04 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 04 (02) ◽

pp. 64-82

Author(s):

Dr. Qasim Mahmood ◽

Dr. Kasim Sharif ◽

Zarmina Gull

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Public Sphere ◽

Public Discourse ◽

Modern Society ◽

Political Activism ◽

Central Component ◽

Political Issues ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

Networked Public Sphere ◽

Politically Active

Social media has become a central component of modern society and politics around the world including Pakistan. The paper attempts to examine the influence of political activism among social media-savvy youth in highlighting the political issues of Pakistan. This paper examines how Pakistani youth’s political activism via social media gives rise to an emergent-networked public sphere. A survey questionnaire was distributed to 403-university students aged 18-29 to examine their social media use and political engagement. Findings of the survey show that public discourse on social media, driven by Pakistan’s networked youth, is a growing force that political players and pundits must reckon with. The paper concludes that politically active youth make use of social media to discuss political issues, highlight problems besetting the country, which generates a public discourse, put pressure on government and politicians to take action that ultimately bears influence upon politics and governance in Pakistan.

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Père Trump

October ◽

10.1162/octo_a_00277 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 159 ◽

pp. 3-6

Author(s):

Hal Foster

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Public Sphere ◽

Print Culture ◽

Theoretical Concepts ◽

Fourth Estate ◽

The Public ◽

Higher Power ◽

The Face ◽

The Law ◽

The Public Sphere

In the face of Trumpism and its peculiar mix of the buffoonish and the lethal, Foster suggests that we “pump up” past theoretical concepts by raising them to a higher degree. Social media, for example, could thereby be considered the “fifth estate,” a force that outdoes the “fourth estate” of journalistic media and thereby evacuates the last residues of the public sphere that, over fifty years ago, Jürgen Habermas associated with the advent of print culture. Peter Sloterdijk's notion of cynical reason, too, must be raised to a higher power in order to comprehend the Trumpist mentality; perhaps in this post-truth era, we should speak instead of “noncynical unreason”? And while the concept of the “primal father” is so outrageous that it cannot be inflated, Foster argues, it is one that we must grapple with in the face of a figure who, like Freud's figure, embodies the law and simultaneously performs its transgression.

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Platform Politics: The Emergence of Alternative Social Media in India

Asia Pacific Media Educator ◽

10.1177/1326365x211056699 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 269-276

Author(s):

Prashanth Bhat

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Public Sphere ◽

Hate Speech ◽

Right Wing ◽

Bharatiya Janata Party ◽

The World ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

Media Platform ◽

Corporate Social ◽

Widespread Dissemination

Widespread dissemination of hate speech on corporate social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube has necessitated technological companies to moderate content on their platforms. At the receiving end of these content moderation efforts are supporters of right-wing populist parties, who have gained notoriety for harassing journalists, spreading disinformation, and vilifying liberal activists. In recent months, several prominent right-wing figures across the world were removed from social media - a phenomenon also known as ‘deplatforming’- for violating platform policies. Prominent among such right-wing groups are online supporters of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India, who have begun accusing corporate social media of pursuing a ‘liberal agenda’ and ‘curtailing free speech.’ In response to deplatforming, the BJP-led Government of India has aggressively promoted and embraced Koo, an indigenously developed social media platform. This commentary examines the implications of this alternative social platform for the online communicative environment in the Indian public sphere.

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

Advances in Social Networking and Online Communities - Exploring the Role of Social Media in Transnational Advocacy ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-2854-8.ch002 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 17-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

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.

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

African Studies ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-3019-1.ch041 ◽

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.

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