Facebook as change? Political engagement in semi-democratic Hong Kong in its transition to universal suffrage

Abstract

With the passage of time, technological innovations, different political and societal developments, the definition and forms of political engagements evolve. Facebook has become a form of political engagement that cannot be neglected, often, fostering and reinforcing other forms of political engagements, both new and traditional. The internet has played a transformative role in the development of political engagement and Facebook acts as a catalyst in such transformation. This paper will examine the relation between Facebook and political engagement in Hong Kong. In the semi-democratic, but essentially liberal, Hong Kong, no doubt, Facebook is an emerging indispensible political tool that cannot be undermined within the Hong Kong political arena. Recently, political parties, politicians, activists, those interested in politics in Hong Kong and even the government use the Facebook for different political purposes. It is more common for Hong Kong people to engage in Facebook politically at the cognitive awareness level rather than at the expression level and even less at the action level. Those who hold a more anti-establishment stand tend to have higher levels of Facebook political engagement in Hong Kong. The government mainly \u27soft-sells\u27 the government policy and shapes the government image in a positive way through its use of Facebook. Political party members in Hong Kong are very strategic in their effort on using Facebook to maximize votes for themselves, while social activists mainly use Facebook for information flow and exchange, promotion of activist acts, explaining their stand, thereby trying to affect the views of others. More importantly, Facebook brings together a group of like-minded activists, building up solidarity among them, thereby increasing their passion for social change. In short, Facebook makes politics more real and nearer to life. Though Facebook brings about change in political engagement in Hong Kong, this should not be exaggerated. Whether Facebook will remain a significant force in Hong Kong political scene depends on whether Facebook continues to enjoy widespread acceptance or becomes even more popular in Hong Kong

Conversaciones políticas en Facebook. Explorando el papel de la homofilia en la argumentación y la interacción comunicativa

“…Distintos autores señalan la importancia de Facebook y Twitter como herramientas electorales y canales que acogen diversas prácticas de comunicación política, debido al número extensivo de ciudadanos que las usan con regularidad (Kreiss, 2012;Nielsen & Vaccari, 2013;Larsson & Kalsnes, 2014;Yung et al, 2014 Este uso intensivo de Facebook ofrece nuevas oportunidades para la participación política (Lilleker & Jackson, 2010;Kruikemeier et al, 2014;Warren et al, 2014;Boulianne, 2015). Aunque Facebook atraiga básicamente a los usuarios por razones de entretenimiento o sociabilidad, este tipo de uso puede fácilmente conducir a otras actividades relacionadas con los asuntos públicos.…”

“…En otras palabras: los usuarios pueden ser confrontados incidentalmente en sus perfiles de Facebook con diferentes actividades políticas, como iniciativas promovidas por sus representantes, actividades organizadas por movimientos sociales o protestas canalizadas desde la sociedad civil. De hecho, a pesar de que generalmente los usuarios de redes sociales no prestan especial atención a la información que proporcionan los perfiles de los partidos políticos y sus líderes no suelen ser particularmente populares, sus páginas de Facebook pueden atraer gran atención en momentos de mayor movilización y entusiasmo cívico, como ocurre durante los procesos electorales (Nielsen & Vaccari, 2013;Yung et al, 2014).…”

Political conversations on Facebook. Exploring the role of homophily in argumentation and communicative interaction

“…Several authors highlight the significance of Facebook and Twitter as channels of political communication practices and electoral campaign tools, given the extensive number of citizens using them regularly (Kreiss, 2012;Nielsen & Vaccari, 2013;Larsson & Kalsnes, 2014;Yung et al, 2014). In Spain, Facebook is clearly more popular than Twitter, according to different surveys conducted on both the general population (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, 2015) and Internet users (Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación, 2016).…”

“…It is also during campaign periods when political actors significantly increase their efforts to reach and persuade voters, using Facebook as a means for their political aims (Yung et al, 2014). Kreiss (2014) suggests that the major challenge that political actors face in electoral campaign periods is not handling participation, but promoting real participation.…”

“…In other words, users can be incidentally confronted on their Facebook accounts with different political activities, such as initiatives undertaken by their representatives, activities organized by social movements or public protests emerging from the civil society. Indeed, despite most social media users do not pay special attention to political information and the profiles of political parties and their leaders are not extensively followed, their Facebook pages can acquire significant attention in particular moments of civic excitement, such as general elections (Nielsen & Vaccari, 2013;Yung et al, 2014).…”