‘We need to get together and make ourselves heard’: everyday online spaces as incubators of political action

Abstract

This article examines to what extent, and how, people engaging in political talk within 'non-political' discussion forums -online lifestyle 15 communities -leads to political (or personal) action or calls-toaction. The analysis is framed in the context of wider questions of citizenship, civic engagement and political mobilization. To capture everyday political talk amongst citizens requires us to move beyond the now widely analysed online spaces of formal politics. Instead, we focus on online third spaces concerning 20 lifestyle issues such as parenting, personal finance and popular culture. Drawing on a content analysis of three popular UK-based discussion forums over the course of five years (2010-2014), we found that (for two of the three cases) such spaces were more than just talking shops. Rather they were spaces where political actions not only emerged, but where they seemed to be cultivated. Discussions embedded in the personal lives of 25 participants often developed -through talk -into political actions aimed at government (or other) authorities. The article sheds light on the contributing factors and processes that (potentially) trigger and foster action emerging from political talk and provides insight into the mobilization potential of third spaces. 30ARTICLE HISTORY

Experience with Digital Tools in Different Types of e-Participation

“…Despite the described shortfalls of discussion forums which can often be observed concerning quality and the culture of discourse, positive examples can also be found. According to the results of an analysis of three UK-based discussion forums from 2010 to 2014, Graham et al (2016) claim that political actions can in some instances be cultivated in third spaces, such as online lifestyle community spaces. In order for political action to follow up on online discussions, the following factors are identified: a helpful and supportive culture or structure, framing topics in a personal manner or in connection to everyday life and communicating in an interactive and reciprocal community or platform.…”

“….] the importance of political talk for triggering both manifest and latent political participation" (Graham et al 2016(Graham et al : 1383. Dunne (2015) examined 138 online forums dedicated to local politics regarding their impact and found none on direct democracy, as none of these forums provided any voting mechanism.…”

Big Data, Surveillance, and the Digital Citizen

“…While online spaces may be seen as facilitating somewhat more communitarian participation, co-ordinating campaigns and bring people together for common purposes, in terms of the political action they foster it is often single issue in nature, again reflecting consumer forms of politics, and in many cases they do little more than provide guidance on how individuals can contact politicians or 163 Graham et al, 2015, pp.7-8 164 Graham et al, 2015, p.8 165 Graham et al, 2015, p.11 166 Graham et al, 2015 Hansard Society, 2017, p.43 168 Hansard Society, 2013, p.38 169 Baker et al, 2013 170 Baker et al, 2013, pp.29-32 engage with the State and civil society directly themselves. As such, the digital citizen ultimately still fulfils a largely liberal individualist role (and even boycotting, a form of collective rather than individual action, is politics through consumer choice-making 171 ).…”

Critical conversations: Social workers’ perceptions of the use of a closed Facebook group as a participatory professional space

“…(Fuchs, 2014b, p. 254) The creation of SNSs has led to what has been coined networked publics (boyd, 2011) describing the ways in which people use internet technology to gather for personal, professional and political reasons, to seek information and for civic engagement (De Zuniga & Valenzuela, 2011;Graham et al, 2015). Social networking sites share a similar function to real world meeting spaces, for example cafés or workplaces (Varnelis & Friedberg, 2008).…”

“…The emergence of social media offers the public new ways to create and maintain relationships, to share information and to collaborate (Graham, Jackson, & Wright, 2015;Sage & Sage, 2016). Social networking sites provide internet-based services that allow people to engage with social media in a unique way: to construct a digital identity and connect socially without barriers of time or space (Fuchs, 2014a;Steinfield, Ellison, & Lampe, 2008).…”