Protesting in theage of social mediaInformation, opinion expression and activism in online networks

Sebas t i án Va l enzue l a , PhD

Facultad de Comunicaciones UC

POLITICAL-TECHNOLOGICAL

Two correlated trends

Tunisia, Dec. 2010

Chile, Aug. 2011

Egypt, Jan. 2011Madrid, May 2011

Facebook users around the world

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/02/01/FB-regioncomp2_610x363.png

CAUSES AND EFFECTS

Correlation is not necessarily causation. Yet,…

ViralMS

Existing research

Studies based on an individual-level approach

tend to find a positive relationship between

frequency of social media use and protest

behavior, in line with existing research on the

digital media-citizen participation link.(Gil de Zúñiga, Jung, & Valenzuela, 2012; Park, Kee, & Valenzuela, 2009; Rojas & Puig-i-Abril, 2009; Valenzuela,

Park & Kee, 2009; Zhang, Johnson, Seltzer, & Bichard, 2010).

• Access to a large number of contacts helps

social movements reach critical mass (Lovejoy & Saxton,

2012).

• Personal and group identity construction

through reinforcement of group norms (Dalton, Sickle,

& Weldon, 2009; Papacharissi, 2010) .

• Build trusting relationships among members (Gilbert & Karahalios, 2009).

• Interest in collective issues by gaining insight

into the circumstances of others (Bennett & Segerberg,

2011).

Possible mechanisms

• Information: social media as news sources or

information hubs (Gil de Zúñiga, Jung, & Valenzuela, 2012).

• Political expression: social media as spaces for

expressing political opinions (Pingree, 2007).

• Activism: social media as venues for joining

causes and opportunities for mobilization (Yamamoto, 2006).

Possible mechanisms (cont´d)

• H1. Frequency of social media use will be

positively related to protest behavior.

• H2. Using social media for news consumption,

opinion expression and activism mediates the

relationship between frequency of social

media use and protest behavior.

Hypotheses

Method

• Data: 3rd round of the “Jóvenes y Participación”

survey by Periodismo UDP-Feedback S.A.

• Cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of

adults living in Chile’s three main urban areas.

• Sample: multistage area probability sample stratified

by geographical region.

• Mode: face-to-face interviews.

• Sample size: 1,737 (data weighted due to youth

oversample).

• Fieldwork: Aug. 19 – Sept. 6 2011

Variables

• Protest : public demonstrations, political forums/debates, petitioning, meeting authorities, letters to the media.

• Social media: Overall use of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube (α = .70), hard news, opinionexpression (α = .83), activism (α = .79).

• Control variables:– Political and economic grievances

– Human values

– Material and psychological resources

– Online and offline hard news

– Interpersonal political discussion

IMPACT

Results for H1:

What are the effects of frequency of social media use

on the likelihood of engaging in protest behavior?

MEDIATORS

Results for H2:

What explains the relationship between frequency of

social media use and protest behavior?

• Supported:

– H1. Frequency of social media use will be

positively related to protest behavior.

• Qualified support:

– H2. Using social media for news consumption,

opinion expression and activism mediates the

relationship between frequency of social media

use and protest behavior.

Hypotheses

INTERVENING VARIABLES

“Effects” of social media onprotest behavior are indirect and contingent upon specific uses

Directions for future research

• Replicate and test additional mechanisms.

• Examine others forms of participation.

• Triangulate survey data with:

– Content analysis of social media

– Social network analysis

– Longitudinal, panel surveys

• Cross-national comparative work

• DEVELOP THEORY!

THANK YOU!

This presentation can be downloaded at

http:// www.slideshare.com/savalenz

Research work and papers are available at

http://uc-cl.academia.edu/Valenzuela