This ppresentation was written for a Social Media Metrics course in April, 2015. The author is an undergraduate in the School of Communication, University of Nebraska at Omaha.
2. Introduction
• Many believe social media has led the younger
generation to become uninformed and detached
from the world’s happenings (Spurgeon, 2012).
• Social media has also created an online
environment that encourages people to address
and engage in civic movements (LaRiviere, 2012).
3. What is Civic Engagement?
• Civic engagement is defined as participating in
discussions and activities that work towards a
better community and developing the knowledge
and skills to do so. (Eudey, 2012).
4. Types of Engaged Citizens
• People can be grouped into five categories based
on their potential to engage in civic reform (Bryer,
2012).
• Largest group: Active followers are connected to
online and real-world issues but only engage if the
cause affects them directly.
5. RQ 1:
How can social media affect potential
activists’ engagement in civic reform?
• Social media instantly connects people that share
similar interests and ideals.
• Distance, age and income barriers that prevent
engagement offline aren’t factors online (LaRiviere,
2012).
• People’s online connections have shown to increase
civic engagement both online and offline (Kim, 2013).
6. RQ 2:
How does social media have the power to
influence civic movements like Occupy Wall Street?
• Six months after OWS began, it had over 6,500 active
participants (Costanza-Chock, 2012).
• Occupy Wall Street combined social media and face-to-face
movements to grow a worldwide campaign.
• 74% of Occupiers used Facebook as a marketing tool.
• 73% also engaged in face-to-face conversations about the
protest.
• Live-stream events were viewed by 80,000 people daily.
7. RQ 3:
How can civic organizations harness the power of social
media to encourage civic reform and engagement?
• Traditional civic reform organizations are shrinking
while online groups are growing (Bennett, 2011).
• Social media offers a freedom from formal commitment
that appeals to young activists (Bennett, 2011).
• Online forums allow people to communicate with
decision-makers about issues that are important to
them (Perlstein, 2011).
8. Results
• Social media allows people to participate in a level
of engagement that reflects their beliefs, while also
encouraging observers to become active
participants (LaRiviere, 2012).
• Studies show that online communication strengthens
existing networks, establishes new networks, and
enhances the positive links between political talk
and community engagement” (Kim, 2013).
9. Results
• Social media empowers people who may not have an
abundance of funds or time to still contribute to civic
change movements like Occupy Wall Street (Joon Kim,
2011).
• “With the rise of digital media websites such as
Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, a solitary [person] is
able to create groups, petitions, and events to mobilize
peers with a few clicks of a mouse and with little or no
monetary payment” (LaRiviere, 2012, p. 14).
10. Results
• Social media is the ideal forum in which civic organizations can
engage the younger generation because the instantaneous, inter-
connected platform is “conducive” to engagement (LaRiviere,
2012).
• Social media is a “dominant force in how teenagers are
entertained, educated, enlightened and enticed” (Harp, 2012, p.
228).
• Social media promotes civic participation particularly among
young people…because it provides a basis to achieve a common
goal and engage in collective action” (Harp, 2010, p. 226).
11. Conclusion
• “We can think of social media as a tool for citizen engagement
as having two sides to the same coin: risks and
opportunities” (Bryer, 2013, p. 45).
• Youth are becoming less interested in consuming the news and,
therefore, participating in civic engagement (Spurgeon, 2012).
• Information can spread instantaneously via social media, but
the publicity isn’t always positive (Bryer, 2013).
• Those participating in online movements are not always well-
informed or producing quality material (Bryer, 2013).
