1.BA (Hons) Advertising Social Media & Politics

2. Social Media. more than just marketing 3. Democracy is a deeply communicative brand of politics it demands communication and exchange of information and views, it demands dialogue and a public sphere in which citizens can engage in the practices which define them as citizens and the society as democratic Darin Barney,The Network Society,(Oxford: Polity, 2004) 4. Definition of Democracy Democracyin its purest or most ideal form would be a society in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy 5. Pillars of Democracy

Dahls (1971) Empirical Conditions for Democracy

Election of officials through free and fair elections

Inclusive suffrage

Right all citizens to run for public office

Freedom of expression

Right to information other than from official sources

Right to form political parties and interest groups

Jean Grugel,Democratization A Critical Introduction,(London: Palgrave, 2002 6. Pillars of Democracy http://www.idea.int/publications/sod/democracy_assessment.cfm 7.

Information is essential to the democratic process as only an informed citizen can cast an informed vote

In order to make meaningful decisions, citizens of democratic societies must have:

• Knowledge of societal issues

• Availability of alternative options

• Understanding of political system

The importance of the informed citizen 8. The political role of the mass media

Historically the mass media have been the predominant source of political information for citizens of a democratic society

Ideally, the mass media should fulfil their political role by:

disseminating the full range of political opinions, enabling the public to make political choices and enter the national life.

Mark Wheeler,Politics and the Mass Media,(Oxford: Blackwell, 1997)

The mass media political role in democratic societies is centred around:

• Acting as a fourth estateand public sphere

• Acting as impartial, objective and independent brokers of information

• Acting with political and economic autonomy

9. The Public Sphere The political role of the mass media is centred on its role as a public sphere The public sphere can be defined as: a discursive space in which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgment. 10. Media Pluralism and Democracy Pluralism can be defined as: a diversity of media owners, reflected both by the plurality of independent and autonomous media and the diversity of media contents offering different and independent voices, diverse political opinions and representations of citizens within the media Gillian Doyle,Media Ownership , (London: SAGE, 2002) Internal Pluralism A balanced range of political information, debate and opinion External Pluralism Provided from a wide range of independent sources free from political and economic pressures or bias 11. A few of the issues associated with this mass media in fulfilling their political role within a democratic society:Can the mass media truly fulfill their political role?

• Agenda Setting

• Political and Commercial Autonomy

• Access to Means of Production

Do these issues impact the mass medias ability to fulfil their political role??

• Acting as a fourth estate and public sphere

• Independent from political and economic bias

• Providing a wide range of information, interpretation and opinion

12. How has the Internet and social media changed this? 13. The democratising potential of the Internet

There has been much discussion around the democratic potential of the Internet these often focus on its defining features:

• Unmediated access to wide range of information

• Two way communication channel

• Distribution channel for wide variety of content

• Low barriers to entry for access and production

• Global reach of a connected network

14. Participatory Culture Participatory culturerefers to a culture in which private persons (the public) do not act as consumers only, but also as contributors or producers (prosumers). The term is most often applied to the production or creation of some type of published media http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_culture 15. Participatory Culture 16. The democratising potential of the Internet

It is these defining features that enhance democratic potential of this communication channel:

• Access to means of production

• Ability to circulate ideas and content

• Difficult to control the flow of information

• Removes pragmatic need for agenda setting

• Breaks down barrier between producer and consumer

• Diversification of public sphere

• Increased internal and external plurality

• Anonymity can remove social stereotypes and hierarchy

17. And the rise of social media has further enhanced this 18. The host of online technologies and platforms that allow users share resources and media content whilst communicating with their peers and connect with others Social media are primarily Internet-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. 19. The other side of the coin.

There are several issues with this digital utopia:

• Information Overload

• Quality of Online Discussions

• Fragmentation of Public Sphere

• Lack of Accountability

• Dependent on Provision of Equal Access

• Assumption of Independence & Autonomy

• Internet Censorship

20. How are politicians embracing social media? 21. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBzjRdEMjEU 22.

Obama was not considered to be a prime presidential candidate, according to

traditional metrics other candidates had considerable resources

Used social media to increase awareness of campaign engaging citizens to

take a more active and direct role in the campaign

Encouraged voters to support and amplify the campaign through their own

networks

Obama and the 2008 Presidential Campaign 23. All with a little help from his friends 24. http://www.barackobama.com/ 25. 26. 27. 28. So how about in the 2010 UK General Election? At the time, there were 24 million UK users of Facebook. .And around the same amount of people voted in the 2010 election 29. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-Ua4kPMwrU&feature=player_embedded 30. "The dawn of the digital election this year is a transformative moment for democracy in Britain. By allowing voters to cross-examine their leaders, these digital debates will put the voters firmly in charge. This marks a decisive shift away from the constraints of top-down traditional media. Richard Allen Facebooks Director of Policy http://bcove.me/xl6c6ua2 31. http://www.youtube.com/ukelection 32. 33. http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=387348402130 34. 35. 36. How are citizens using social media? 37.

Adigital citizencommonly refers to a person utilizing information technology information technology (IT) in order to engage in society, politics, and government participation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_citizen

As a digital citizen, using social media you can:

• Discuss social, economic and political issues with peers and online contacts

• Communicate directly with politicians and decision makers

• Share and publish opinions with an amplified audience

• Organise protests and other forms of political activism

• Create support groups for political parties

Are you a digital citizen? 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. Remember Citizen Journalism??? T he concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

Drivers behind increased prevalence of citizen journalism:

• Social Media

• Mobile Technologies

• Lower Barriers to Entry

• Real Time Communications

43. Then.

Uni-directional

Top Down

High barriers to entry

Print and Linear Broadcast Journalism

44. Now.

Multi-directional and conversational

Top Down and Bottom Up

Low barriers to entry

Real Time

Citizen and Digital Journalism

Additional channels

Global Reach

45. How is social media being used to facilitate activism? 46. From the more trivial 47. to the making of history http://socialcapital.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/twitter-facebook-and-youtubes-role-in-tunisia-uprising/ 48. to the making of history 49. The role of social media in the Arab Spring http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/mar/22/middle-east-protest-interactive-timeline 50. Look at how social media was used in different uprisings and protests 51. Social Media Module on SlideShare http://www.slideshare.net/UCFadvertising 52. Clemi Hardie [email_address] @clemihardie