When Citizens in Authoritarian States Use Facebook for Social Ties but Not Political Participation

2019 ◽  
pp. 1143-1165
Author(s):  
Wairagala Wakabi
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The State ◽  
Civic Skills ◽  
Western Democracies

Numerous researchers have found a correlation between citizens' use of social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook and their likelihood for eParticipation. However, SNS use does not have the same effect on all citizens' political engagement. In authoritarian countries, Facebook offers a platform for citizens to challenge the power of the state, provide alternative narratives and mobilise for political change. This chapter examines how using Facebook affects the participative behaviours of Ugandans and concludes that in low internet use, authoritarian contexts, the Civic Voluntarism Model's postulation of the factors that explain political participation, and the benefits Facebook brings to participation in Western democracies, are upended. Overwhelming detachment from politics, low belief in citizens' online actions influencing change and fear of reprisals for criticising an authoritarian president in power for 30 years, severely dulled the appetite for eParticipation. Hence, Facebook was growing citizens' civic skills but hardly increasing online participation.

When Citizens in Authoritarian States Use Facebook for Social Ties but Not Political Participation

2017 ◽  
pp. 192-214
Author(s):  
Wairagala Wakabi
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The State ◽  
Civic Skills ◽  
Western Democracies

Numerous researchers have found a correlation between citizens' use of social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook and their likelihood for eParticipation. However, SNS use does not have the same effect on all citizens' political engagement. In authoritarian countries, Facebook offers a platform for citizens to challenge the power of the state, provide alternative narratives and mobilise for political change. This chapter examines how using Facebook affects the participative behaviours of Ugandans and concludes that in low internet use, authoritarian contexts, the Civic Voluntarism Model's postulation of the factors that explain political participation, and the benefits Facebook brings to participation in Western democracies, are upended. Overwhelming detachment from politics, low belief in citizens' online actions influencing change and fear of reprisals for criticising an authoritarian president in power for 30 years, severely dulled the appetite for eParticipation. Hence, Facebook was growing citizens' civic skills but hardly increasing online participation.

scholarly journals Somewhat Separate and Unequal: Digital Divides, Social Networking Sites, and Capital-Enhancing Activities

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630511771627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katy E. Pearce ◽  
Ronald E. Rice
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Resource Access ◽  
Digital Divides ◽  
Separate And Unequal

As Internet use grows globally, the digital divide has shifted beyond concerns about access and adoption to more subtle questions of skill, usage, and capital, and to new venues such as social networking sites (SNSs). Do digital divides persist across adoption/non-adoption of SNSs, across different SNSs, and across different capital-enhancing activities used on those SNSs? The current study analyzes a context where social ties are more salient for resource access due to untrustworthy institutions, and large gaps exist between elites and non-elites. Demographic divides characterize the 31% of Armenian adults using two major SNSs in 2013: Facebook and Odnoklassniki. Facebook is used more for getting information, while Odnoklassniki more for gaming. However, the divides in SNS usage are much greater than in activity use, with implications for capital enhancement and stratification.

scholarly journals The Perceived Impact of Social Networking Sites and Apps on the Social Capital of Saudi Postgraduate Students: A Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Abdulelah A. Alghamdi ◽  
Margaret Plunkett
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

With the increased use of Social Networking Sites and Apps (SNSAs) in Saudi Arabia, it is important to consider the impact of this on the social lives of tertiary students, who are heavy users of such technology. A mixed methods study exploring the effect of SNSAs use on the social capital of Saudi postgraduate students was conducted using a multidimensional construct of social capital, which included the components of life satisfaction, social trust, civic participation, and political engagement. Data were collected through surveys and interviews involving 313 male and 293 female postgraduate students from Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) in Makkah. Findings show that male and female participants perceived SNSAs use impacting all components of social capital at a moderate and mainly positive level. Correlational analysis demonstrated medium to large positive correlations among components of social capital. Gender differences were not evident in the life satisfaction and social trust components; however, females reported more involvement with SNSAs for the purposes of political engagement while males reported more use for civic participation, which is an interesting finding, in light of the norms and traditional culture of Saudi society.

scholarly journals Development of a Measure: Reasons of Social Networking Sites Use

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Samira Ranaiey ◽  
Mohammad Reza Taghavi ◽  
Mohammad Ali Goodarzi
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Total Variance ◽  
Problematic Internet Use ◽  
The Internet

<p class="zhengwen">Because of increased attention to PIU (Problematic Internet Use), some measure had been made, but they seem to be</p><p class="zhengwen">Inadequate, due to new issue of the internet interactions. Therefore the necessity and importance of</p><p class="zhengwen">Standard, valid and reliable tools to assess PIU and the related behaviors are clear.</p>This paper presents results of a study that develops a measure of Reasons of Using Social Networking Sites (S.N.S). The reasons were based on an article by Morahan – Martin and Schumacher. The reasons were arranged as a questionnaire. This questionnaire was completed by 156 volunteer students of Shiraz University. The results indicated that Reasons of S.N.S Use Scale is both reliable and valid. The result of factor analysis showed that two dimensions (Positive and Negative reasons of S.N.S use) explains total variance acceptably.

Behind the Popular Narrative: Negotiating Life and Political Engagement in Conflicted Kashmir

2021 ◽  
pp. 232102302110430
Author(s):  
Wahid Ahmad Dar
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The State ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Popular Narrative ◽  
Political Actions

The article focuses on the subaltern system of micro appropriations or Jugaads used by young Kashmiris to survive within precarious situations inflicted due to armed conflict. More particularly, it argues that such Jugaads are invoked by the subaltern consciousness of Tehreeq-e-Azadi, which offers space for not just the negotiation with the state but also the creative improvisation of daily political actions. It is illustrated that young people’s political participation is entangled with the attempts to overcome the uncertainty around their lives, thereby offering them pragmatic solutions in advancing their interests. It is further elaborated that the existing polarization between separatism and mainstream is obscure at the experiential level, living within precarious situations has taught young people to silently craft possibilities of a good life without looking confrontational to either side. The article argues that localized forms of engagement are crucial for a comprehensive understanding of how modern states operate.

Connecting and being connected: investigating friending practices across multiple social networking sites

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chien Wen Yuan ◽  
Yu-Hao Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Relationship Maintenance ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Bonding Social Capital ◽  
Amazon's Mechanical Turk

PurposeSocial networking sites (SNSs) offer people the possibility of maintaining larger networks of social ties, which also entails more complex relationship maintenance across multiple platforms. Whom to “friend” and via which platform can involve complex deliberations. This study investigates the relationships between users' perceived friending affordances of five popular SNSs (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn) and their friending behaviors concerning strong ties, weak ties (existing and latent ties) and parasocial ties.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey using Qualtrics was provided to participants (N = 626) through Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The survey asked their SNS use and their friending behaviors with different ties on each of the sites.FindingsUsers' friending decisions are dependent on an interplay of socio-technical affordances of each SNS and specific needs for the ties. The authors found that the affordances of bridging social capital and enjoyment are aligned with friending weak and parasocial ties, respectively. The affordances of bonding social capital were not valued to friend strong ties.Originality/valueThe study extends the affordance and social capital literature by assessing users' perceived, contextualized SNS affordances in relation to actual communication behaviors in friending different social ties. This approach provides contextualized insights to friending decisions and practices on SNSs.

scholarly journals Prevalence and Nature of Internet Use among Adolescents in Vadodara (Gujarat)

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janki Jhala ◽  
Renu Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Survey Research ◽  
Internet Addiction ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Test Results

Internet has been a very facilitating medium and making lives easier for many of us. Internet is increasingly becoming a channel through which people, and especially adolescents, socialize and be in constant contact with their family, relatives and friends. More than a medium of acquiring knowledge, for adolescents, it has become a medium of expression of their implicit feelings and to know what is happening in their peer group. The current research aims to study the prevalence and nature of Internet use among adolescents. Population for the research included adolescents of Vadodara District in Gujarat. A total of 1657 adolescents were taken as the sample for the study. A survey research was conducted on 1657 adolescents using a self developed questionnaire along with Young’s Internet Addiction test. Results indicate that 44.8% of the participants are Average Users of the Internet, while 14.6% of the participants belong to the category of above average users of the Internet. The present study also shows that participants use the Internet mainly for social communication and social networking sites are the most commonly used sites on the Internet.

scholarly journals The impact of social networking sites on socialization and political engagement: Role of acculturation

2019 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 503-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hatice Kizgin ◽  
Ahmad Jamal ◽  
Nripendra Rana ◽  
Yogesh Dwivedi ◽  
Vishanth Weerakkody
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The Impact

Internet Use and Psychological Well-Being

2012 ◽  
pp. 302-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiungjung Huang
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Networking Site ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Site Use ◽  
Meta Analyses

The direction of the correlation between Internet use and psychological well-being is debatable. The displacement hypothesis indicates the correlation is negative, as Internet use for communication replaces face-to face-interaction. Conversely, the augmentation hypothesis suggests that the correlation is positive because Internet use for communication complements existing social interaction. While previous empirical findings about the relationship between Internet use and psychological well-being have been diverse, two previous meta-analyses and the present meta-analysis about the use of social networking sites and psychological well-being supported neither position, and found no relationship between Internet use and psychological well-being. Investigation of causal predominance between Internet use and psychological well-being, increased attention to measurement problems of social networking site use and older adults, and consideration of effects of indicators and moderators should be addressed in future research.

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