Fuchs Chapter 8: Twitter and Democracy
When violent and non-violent protests, uprisings and coups started in Tunisia over leadership and government tactics, after a young Tunisian fruit stand worker set himself on fire after being banned from selling fruit, it became known as the Arab Spring. How would the world know about something like this other than from popular news stands and online stories? Social media.
The online community, especially Twitter, became a hub for Arab Spring news and happenings. According to Fuchs, this was an example of a “Public Sphere” which is described by the German sociologist Jurgen Habermas as possessing four qualities that make it so.
1. Formation of public opinion.
2. All citizens have access.
3. Conference in unrestricted fashion about matters of general interest.
4. Debate over the general rules governing relations.
This is not the clearest definition, which is why the chapter, and Fuchs, goes on to explain the Arab Spring and how real-world problems are solved and discussed through the public sphere. Fuchs uses a quote that I believe sums up the use of the public sphere through social media and how that changes outcomes. “In periods of mobilization, the structure that actually support the authority of a critically engaged public begin to vibrate. The balance of power between civil society and political system then shifts” (Habermas, 1996, Fuchs pg 221). This “engaged public” refers to the online users of Twitter and how they became very active on Twitter and essential to the spread of news and conversation on the Arab Spring and many other global instances like the numerous Occupy movements. The protestors created a public sphere to start conversations around these protests of important political and economical issues all over the world. Using physical places to start a public sphere started with these movements and Fuchs gives examples like Zuccotti Park in New York City and Tahrir Square in Cairo.
Fuchs also goes on to clarify by quoting much more of Habermas by stating this; “that the proper task of the public sphere is that ‘society is engaged in critical public debate’”. There for constituting that public spheres cannot be created around just anything. Sure, there can be conversations and groups surrounding certain issues, but from Fuchs’s and Habermas’s definitions and explanations, it is clear that the public sphere occurs when there is a question in “the command of resources” or a “critical public debate”. The public sphere also has to adhere to rules laid out by Fuchs on page 223 that states who can, and when they will, edit information on the public sphere ie. “Is there political/economical censorship? Who can produce content? How independent are the sites and discussions from economic and state interests?” (Fuchs, pg. 223)
Fuchs finishes the chapter by showing Twitter trends and interest in stories and public figures. The majority of Twitter users are not interested in political stories with Justin Bieber as the the number one search in 2011 and the number three search in 2012. The chapter then turns to the Occupy movement and how social media played into the protests. Fuchs did a study on this and found that the majority of Occupy protestors did not actually Tweet or Facebook that often, but rather personal conversations, texts and phone calls more so. Fuchs finishes by saying that Twitter is not a public sphere. Yet I believe it can be used as a tool in a public sphere now that social media is even more popular than it was during the Arab Spring in 2010.
