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Dark Side of Social Media
Case study of social media activities of Serbian nationalist group SNP
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Jelena MaksimovićGlocal conference, Skopje 2009
Defying dominant discourse
• Liberal progressive disourse
• Internet as a new public sphere – increased participation of citizens in political life
Facebook President
Ideology of social media
• Rhetoric of democratization – social change, increased power and knowledge
• Web 2.0 amoral (N.Carr)
• Agonistic public sphere (Mouffe)
• Antipublics – using freedom of the Internet, but actively looking to undermine it
Choice of the case study
• Crucial factors• Rise of youth
nationalism• Tabloidisation of
the media• Youth: Increased
usage of social media, not accustomed to traditional media
Facebook wars• Serbia – most Facebook profiles in
Western Balkans area (11,3% of the population)
• Groups:Let Gather More People Then There is in Albania - 95,907
membersCan we gather 50.000 Serbs on Facebook – 97,982 membersLet’s Gather More People Then There is in Montenegro –
115,490 members
Online presence of nationalist groups
• Forums – closed communities of likeminded people
• Social media – openly calling for participation (SNP calls you!)
• Content– blog, Facebook page and group, Twitter, videos on Blip.tv
Textual analysis - blog
• Style- almost professional
design- Content- classic press releases- long articles
attempting at analysis- low interaction
Textual analyis – Facebook page
• Open calls to violence
(Death to gays! ...go back to the EU or your home country Croatia. We are waiting for you)
• Encouraged by administrators
(posting the drawing – Gays into Blenders)
• Increase of number of fans before/after Pride
Aftermath – Clicking away vs. Real Threat
Influence on mainstream media
• Tensions ahead of gay pride – tabloids announcing violence on the streets
• Accountability – arrests/censorshipPhysical ban of a group does not translate into online world – Facebook Anti-Holocaust groups
• Youth involved more with social media, than traditional media
