Public Opinion… Monitored or Not?
Over the past ten years or so, social media platforms have been increasingly popular. The use of social media platforms range from entertainment purposes to getting news or information. Social media platforms are greatly used to express one’s opinions may it be personal or political. For example in w wthe Arab Spring that began in Tunis a man burned himself alive to prove a point, and by the use of social media, the revolution spend among the Arabs. Another example is the “Me Too” movement where social media aided in raising awareness about sexual harassment. Rachel Einwohner (a Purdue University sociology professor) says: “With the rise of social media, it’s definitely a lot easier for people to mobilize more quickly and you don’t necessarily need to have one charismatic leader like Dr. King, who had almost some kind of magical quality. But you still do need some powerful message that really resonates with a lot of people” (as cited in the Associated press, 2018).
In 2017, 34% of Americans share their interests about an issue or cause on social media platforms, whereas 32% of Americans encouraged others through social media to support and take action on an important matter to them (Anderson, Toor, & Smith, 2018). Furthermore, Jost, Bonneau and Langer (2018) mentioned that the most used social media platforms that involve political participation are Twitter and Facebook, especially if engagement for protest is needed. Furthermore, details about the protest movements in the United States, Spain, Turkey, and Ukraine were exchanged through social media platforms. Additionally, social media platforms were greatly used to add emotional and motivational support or opposition towards a protest (like including angry messages and negotiating about fairness and justice). As well, social media aided in expressing the failure or success of a protest or movement.
In order to spread the word through social media platforms about a protest, the use of hashtags, images, videos, and “eyewitness reports” is significant (Poell &Van Dijck, 2017). According to Bruns et al., Lim, Lotan et al., and Tufekci and Wilson mention that during the months of January and February 2011, the opposition again the government in Tunisia and Egypt used Facebook and text messages to expose what is happening on the streets and Twitter was used to virally expose the revolution (as cited in Poell &Van Dijck, 2017). Due to the uproar of the Arab Spring through these social media platforms, similar protest happened in Spain, United States, and Italy during the summer of 2011. In general, the use of social media platforms allows the exchange of ideas, lead to large protests that may lead to other protests worldwide.
The public sphere is the social sphere in which people share their opinions on specific matters. For example, people may express their perspective on problems they believe is important, and they may share possible solutions for specific issues. The public sphere is a place where societies communicate. In order to maintain communication within public spheres, social media and online networks are used. Public spheres directly relate to communication about politics and culture. The public sphere is a critical part of a democratic society, since individuals are able to demonstrate what they want and need, especially within politics.Basically, the public sphere isn’t a physical or tangible group, it a group within the social media platforms. Furthermore, the public sphere is a group that is created within one’s space and where a deliberate exchange of information and opinions are shared. Public spheres are considered a “communicative infrastructure” in which ideas and information are expressed freely, considering issues that worry the public, the collection of the public’s wants, and sharing these wants to higher powers (Arnold, 2008). These higher powers should be aware of the public’s actions through the communication channels of the public sphere. Basically, the public sphere is considered technological infrastructure. The infrastructure helps gather political information from people and reduces its costs.
On the contrary, Cela (2015) argues that since any content published on social media platforms are accessible to anyone around the world, the public sphere is no longer infrastructures that create the public sphere, rather they active agents are in control of the spheres. According to Vargas (2017), rules and norms are set on social media platforms for the public figure, in which they act upon the decisions of individuals. Therefore, active agents are structuring the society and the way communication occurs on these platforms.
In conclusion, public spheres consist of several different groups in which each presents their own ideologies. Some public spheres may support democratic participants where they would promote a politician for people to vote for him or her during elections. Every public sphere is monitored by an agent that is concerned with what is being said. Such as governments that oversee what the public sphere intends to do in the country (example: protests) and act respectively to what is going to happen.
References:
Anderson, M., Toor, S., Rainie, L. and Smith, A. (2018). The impact of algorithms on the public sphere. Internet Policy Review. Retrieved from https://policyreview.info/open-abstracts/impact-algorithms-public-sphere
Arnold, A. (2008). Defining the Public Sphere (in 3 Paragraphs!). People, Spaces, Deliberation. Retrieved from https://blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/defining-public-sphere-3-paragraphs.
Cela, E. (2015). Social Media as a New Form of Public Sphere. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318536837_Social_Media_as_a_New_Form_of_Public_Sphere.
Jost, J., Bonneau, R., Barberá, P. and Langer, M. (2018). ResearchGate. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323146225_How_Social_Media_Facilitates_Political_Protest_Information_Motivation_and_Social_Networks_Social_Media_and_Political_Protest
Magrani, E. (2017). The impact of algorithms on the public sphere. Internet Policy Review. Retrieved from https://policyreview.info/open-abstracts/impact-algorithms-public-sphere.v
Poell, T. and Van Dijck, J. (2017). ResearchGate. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321781377_Social_media_and_new_protest_movements.
WTOP. (2018). Social media is the new heart of political protests | WTOP. Retrieved from https://wtop.com/social-media/2018/06/todays-protests-many-voices-social-media-not-1-leader/.
Wessler, H. and Freudenthaler, R. (2017). Public Sphere — Communication — Oxford Bibliographies — obo.Oxfordbibliographies.com. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756841/obo-9780199756841-0030.xml.
