Social Media as a New Public Sphere

Abstract

The information and communication technology system is constantly creating new scenarios, but a tendency in them can still be recognized: the blurring of the limits between consumers and producers and the passage from interactivity to participation (user generated contents, web 2.0, social networks). In this emerging cultural context, constantly redefined and remediated by individual and personalized forms of elaboration, it is important to understand the way in which every single person or group leads his/her own way towards reappropriation of the technological realm. The author aims to explore potential and real capacities of these new technologies to generate a new public sphere by analyzing an exemplary case study: the moblog communities in the megaphone.net project.

The Propaganda Model in the Digital Age: A Review of Literature on the Effects of Social Media on News Production

“…Technologically, it demonstrates how from a cultural context, individuals and groups can do appropriation and adjustment actions using a given emerging technology. In this case, Mazali, (2011) argues that Facebook has become an important modern public space for many of its users. Indeed, up until now, there exist two key arguments that place doubts on the significant social media role as far as political life is concerned.…”

A Dialogue for Social Change on Facebook: A South African Case Study

“…Within the framework of participatory media, these dialogues are set in an advanced version of what Habermas termed the public sphere (Mazali, 2011;Edgerly et al, 2009;Van Dijk, 2006).…”

Virtual Sphere: A Site to Negotiate the Image of Lengger Banyumas

“…Social media creates a sphere as space for their users to create freedom in order to express their identity accessibly. Mazali (2011) has stated that individuals or groups 'perform' using the network as a space where identity is created and where they perform or act. Therefore, this site is regarded as a public sphere.…”

“…Social media is the site where users construct their image. Further, Mazali (2011) has stated that a person or group may 'perform' their identity while using social media. As identity is constructed by social conditions, social media plays an important role in constructing and representing their identity.…”