What Makes a Good Citizen Online? The Emergence of Discursive Citizenship Norms in Social Media Environments

Abstract

The importance of citizenship norms—shared understandings of how citizens ought to participate in society—has been discussed at length in the past two decades, particularly in conversations around changing notions of citizenship in the digital age. Yet, most studies have gravitated between the two poles of dutiful and self-actualizing citizenship. In this study, we explore which citizenship norms people express related to their political participation in social media environments and which affordances and experiences in social media environments shape these norms. Through interviews and focus group discussions, we found that citizenship norms emerge in response to positive and negative experiences in social media environments. We found three groups of norms that are distinctive to the networked environments of social media: individual information care, discourse care, and considered contribution. These can serve as conceptual frames for understanding the normative underpinnings of discursive participation in social media environments from the perspective of ordinary citizens.

“Intervening Is a Good Thing but . . .”: The Role of Social Norms in Users’ Justifications of (Non-)Intervention Against Incivility

“…Thus, aspirational vocabulary exhibits abstract and specific expectations toward intervention, and descriptive incivility norms reinforce the sense of responsibility. Grounded in what Hove (2021, p. 888) terms deontological reasoning, participants who employed this vocabulary had an identified “higher common good” in mind that transcended their personal interests, namely a non-discriminatory public discourse (Buerger, 2021; Gagrčin et al, 2022; Ziegele et al, 2020).…”

“…Since user intervention against incivility is more likely when people perceive a situation as urgent and feel personally responsible for intervention (Latané & Darley, 1970), research in this area has typically investigated individual perceptions of uncivil content (Leonhard et al, 2018;Naab et al, 2018Naab et al, , 2021 and users' sense of responsibility stemming from their observations of and experiences with incivility online (Gagrčin et al, 2022;Kunst et al, 2021;Ziegele et al, 2020). However, less attention has been paid to perceptions of intervention as norm enforcement that is itself subject to norms (Fehr & Fischbacher, 2004), and how these norms may be at odds with one another, shaping ideas about responsibility.…”

“…These are typically studied under the umbrella of citizenship norms and defined as expectations toward civic and political behavior (Dalton, 2008; Kligler-Vilenchik, 2017). As social norms, citizenship norms are learned through various forms of mediated and non-mediated communication (Chung & Rimal, 2016; Gagrčin et al, 2022). They differ from good citizenship ideals that are typically defined by scholars as a coherent perspective from which citizens’ behavior can be evaluated as desirable, necessary, and legitimate, based on a higher common good such as democracy or a public sphere (Hove, 2021, p. 894).…”

The Power of Social Media: Stigmatizing Content Affects Perceptions of Mental Health Care

“…People learn sociocultural norms, such as those about gender roles and mental health stigma, from a range of sources, including parents and other adult role models, peers, mainstream media, and social media (e.g., Gagrčin et al, 2022; Santarossa & Woodruff, 2017; Ward & Grower, 2020). Mainstream and social media may be a particularly powerful conduit of sociocultural values, partially because people in the media are seen as more “attractive” than people in one’s actual day-to-day interactions, making it more likely that they will be viewed as aspirational role models (Greenwood, 2016; Ho et al, 2016; Ward & Grower, 2020).…”

The Role of Novel Citizenship Norms in Signing and Sharing Online Petitions

“…In a study based on qualitative interviews with young social media users in Germany, participants generally appreciated social media for opening up the discourse (Gagrcin et al, 2022). Based on their daily social media experiences, the study identified new standards and valuations of what young users expect from civic communication on social media.…”