Understanding civic engagement on social media platforms

E-campaigning Forum, Oxford 21-22 March 2012

Anastasia Kavada

University of Westminster

Social Media & Engagement Access to new audiences

Lowers costs of mobilization - information can spread through pre-existing social networks

Capacity for interaction and co-production of content carry the potential for community-building

Some Problems Loss of control over the message

Presence on multiple platforms: Dispersion of the supporter base Lack of message coherence Duplication and potential waste of resources

Limited commitment - Transient sense of belonging Weak participation - ‘clicktivism’ &‘slacktivism’ Promote individuality rather than collective unity

Studying civic engagement Practitioners:

‘Ladder of engagement’ or ‘supporter journey’

Academic research: Threshold of participation, rational choice theory

But… Underlying assumption: A smooth progression up the

ladder of engagement?

Focus on the individual and not on how the individual is engaged in the collective

Studying civic engagement

Mapping of Collective ActionBimber, Flanagin & Stohl (2005), (2006)

Mapping of Collective Action

Mode of Engagement

Entrepreneurial: high responsibility & opportunity

Institutional: low responsibility & opportunity

Mode of Interaction [Bonding]

Personal: direct Interaction

Impersonal: no direct interaction

(Flanagin et al., 2006, p. 34)

Studying Social Media Platforms

Move from web 1.0 to 2.0 means that we need to study websites not as top-down communication from advocacy groups to users but as platforms of interaction between a variety of actors (web coordinators, lay users, platform creators etc.)

So we need to pay attention to: classes or types of users roles and rules, governance norms and policy documents modes of interaction and co-production of content

Methods

Case studies:

Main Facebook and Twitter page of 38 Degrees and Amnesty International UK

Methods:

Features analysis (focus on the design and architecture)

Content analysis of comments (focus on the use)

Interviews (focus on the use)

Mode of Engagement

Activities

Affiliating

Framing

Mobilizing

Taking Action

Managing the space

Ranges from institutional to entrepreneurial

Added: presence of the individual voice in the collective

Mode of interaction (or bonding)

Ranges from personal (leads to direct ties) to impersonal (leads to affiliative ties)

Added: who can communicate with whom degree of interactivity (two-way communication) degree of synchronicity degree of privacy

Mode of Engagement

Greater individual autonomy in affiliating to the organization

Framing of issues, narrative of campaigns and agenda-setting is controlled by the organization Design of Facebook pages and Twitter profiles helps to

distinguish between organizational and individual voices

Individuals play a somewhat greater role in curating/arranging information on the platform

Mobilizing: Greater individual autonomy in using one’s social network to spread the word

Mode of Interaction [Bonding]

Individual supporters & organization mainly public and impersonal communication some interaction on discussion pages, wall posts and

@replies

Supporters & their own social networksMore opportunities for synchronous, interactive and private communication

Supporters & Supporters mainly public opportunity for interaction on discussion pages and

Facebook wall – but content analysis shows that this is limited

Mode of Interaction [Bonding]

Interpersonal bonding with one’s own network but affiliative ties with other supporters

Moving forward

Mode of Engagement

Entrepreneurial

Institutional

Mode of Interaction [Bonding]

Personal ImpersonalFB T

W

LG

Understand social media as embedded in the broader

communication ecology of the organization

Moving forward

Mode of Engagement

Entrepreneurial

Institutional

Mode of Interaction [Bonding]

Personal ImpersonalFB T

W

LG

Study the links, flows, and overlaps between different

communication spaces

Thank You!

Please send questions and feedback to

A.Kavada@westminster.ac.uk