Breakdowns in Mediated Conversations: How and Why Youth Exit Cross-cutting Political Talk on Social Media

Social media platforms are arguably reshaping how youth participate in politics today, but little is known about how youth navigate cross-cutting talk with different-minded others online. Based on in-depth interviews, this study examines the discursive strategies civic-minded youth employ to talk politics across lines of political difference on social media. Applying Hirschman (1970) to informal political talk, this study surfaces young people’s “voice” and “exit” strategies in cross-cutting political talk. Findings suggest that civic youth are well-versed in elements of rational deliberative discourse. However, youth appear to struggle when it comes to relational discourse that emphasizes reciprocity and relational listening. Youth tended to exit from political talk with different-minded others on social media. The low barriers for exit from cross-cutting talk on social media, combined with various psychosocial, dispositional factors, raise concerns about young people’s premature exits from democratic engagement on social media

Organizing for individuation: alternative organizing, politics and new identities

Organization theorists have predominantly studied identity and organizing within the managed work organization. This frames organization as a structure within which identity work occurs, often as a means of managerial control. In our paper our contribution is to develop the concept of individuation pursued through prefigurative practices within alternative organizing to reframe this relation. We combine recent scholarship on alternative organizations and new social movements to provide a theoretical grounding for an ethnographic study of the prefigurative organizing practices and related identity work of an alternative group in a UK city. We argue that in such groups, identity, organizing and politics become a purposeful set of integrated processes aimed at the creation of new forms of life in the here and now, thus organizing is politics is identity. Our study presents a number of challenges and possibilities to scholars of organization, enabling them to extend their understanding of organization and identity in the contemporary world

Influence of the 'News Finds Me' Perception on News Sharing and News Consumption on Social Media

The study focuses on ‘News Finds Me’ perception, i.e. the belief that users can stay informed enough without actively following traditional news media while relying on social media and personal contacts. The text analyses the influence between this perception and news consumption (“news internalising”) and sharing (“news externalising”). Uses & Gratifications sought (“information seeking”, “social interaction” and “impression management”) were considered as moderating variables. Survey based results (n = 96) show that ‘News Finds Me’ perception is positively correlated with news internalising but not with news externalising. It is thus concluded that the mere presence of the ‘News Finds Me’ perception does not encourage news sharing attitudes. The study also brings evidence to support a relationship between news internalising and news externalising habits, which influence each other mutually and can moderate other factors in news consumption and dissemination on social media. It is concluded that the presence of the ‘News Finds Me’ perception does not encourage news sharing attitudes

Do tabloids poison the well of social media? Explaining democratically dysfunctional news sharing

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal New Media and Society and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818769689The use of social media for sharing political information and the status of news as an essential raw material for good citizenship are both generating increasing public concern. We add to the debates about misinformation, disinformation, and “fake news” using a new theoretical framework and a unique research design integrating survey data and analysis of observed news sharing behaviors on social media. Using a media-as-resources perspective, we theorize that there are elective affinities between tabloid news and misinformation and disinformation behaviors on social media. Integrating four data sets we constructed during the 2017 UK election campaign—individual-level data on news sharing (N = 1,525,748 tweets), website data (N = 17,989 web domains), news article data (N = 641 articles), and data from a custom survey of Twitter users (N = 1313 respondents)—we find that sharing tabloid news on social media is a significant predictor of democratically dysfunctional misinformation and disinformation behaviors. We explain the consequences of this finding for the civic culture of social media and the direction of future scholarship on fake news

E-expression in a comparative perspective: contextual drivers and constraints of online political expression

As the opportunities for online political expression grow exponentially, aggregate levels of e-expression vary strongly across countries worldwide. The paper explores contextual factors enabling or restraining e-expression, particularly media dependence, democratic experience and civil society robustness and combines them with micro-level demographics, capacities, and motivations. Based on multilevel logistic modelling of 2014 ISSP 'Citizenship II' data [ISSP Research Group. 2016. "International Social Survey Programme: Citizenship II - ISSP 2014 (Version 2.0.0) [Data file]." GESIS Data Archive.], it shows that e-expression is not dependent on a robust civil society, but on the years spent under democratic rule and the level of media dependence. The latter mediates the predictive effect of political trust, which is negative but ceases in countries with dependent and unfree media. The findings challenge assumptions on the mobilizing potential of digital tools in less free countries, particularly for critical citizens who wish to express grievances outside the circuit of official but closed or monitored channels. In contrast, a reinforcement effect is not only found on the individual-level but also in terms of a democratic digital divide between free and consolidated as well as dependent and young/no democratic regimes. Thereby, the paper contributes to our theoretical understanding of the institutional factors shaping e-expression

Do tabloids poison the well of social media? Explaining democratically dysfunctional news sharing

The use of social media for sharing political information and the status of news as an essential raw material for good citizenship are both generating increasing public concern. We add to the debates about misinformation, disinformation, and “fake news” using a new theoretical framework and a unique research design integrating survey data and analysis of observed news sharing behaviors on social media. Using a media-as-resources perspective, we theorize that there are elective affinities between tabloid news and misinformation and disinformation behaviors on social media. Integrating four data sets we constructed during the 2017 UK election campaign—individual-level data on news sharing (N = 1,525,748 tweets), website data (N = 17,989 web domains), news article data (N = 641 articles), and data from a custom survey of Twitter users (N = 1313 respondents)—we find that sharing tabloid news on social media is a significant predictor of democratically dysfunctional misinformation and disinformation behaviors. We explain the consequences of this finding for the civic culture of social media and the direction of future scholarship on fake news

SOCIAL MEDIA, NEWS, AND YOUTHS: HOW YOUNG ADULTS CONSTRUCT AND ENGAGE NEWS CONTENT ON FACEBOOK

This research aims to investigate and critically assess how and to what extent young adults engage with ‘news’ on Facebook and what types of content they engage with. Eight young adults aged 22-30 years were interviewed along with the observation of their Facebook activity-logs over a 1-month period, from May 22nd to June 19th, during the 2017 UK general election and campaign period. The findings indicated overall that the participants used Facebook primarily as an intermediary for developing social context/understanding of news, as a means for commentary and personal expression; complementary to, prior and proceeding, their news engagement through additional media. The specifics of the participants’ Facebook engagement are outlined and discussed in detail

Civic Engagement, Communication-Based Networks and Conservative Future: Technocultural and Organisational Change, 2008-10

In the run-up to the 2015 UK General Election, social media (Web 2.0) like blogs, Facebook and Twitter seem to have become widely accepted and established modes of civic engagement. However, in the run-up to 2010, these media were newer, less understood and largely associated with younger generations. Therefore, it seems pertinent to examine the impact of the advent of these communicationbased networks in the culture of the young people who were civically engaged at the time. Using, as a case study, Conservative Future, the young activist wing of the British Conservative Party, this paper presents findings drawn from qualitative data that were gathered while in the field with young Conservative participants, between 2008 and 2012. Observations suggest that there was an emergence of a technologically-centred innovation culture that helped dissolve traditional geographical and hierarchical barriers to grassroots activity. It is argued that a culture of Facebook participation evolved organically through a learning and copying behaviour within cohorts at the grassroots of Conservative Future, which in turn acted as a driver of change that impacted upon the more established characteristics of the party’s organisational culture. This change is described to be associated with a technologically-driven subculture that is argued to have been extant in the party between 2008 and 2010. The author calls this subculture “Cyber Toryism”

Facebook as a public arena for women: infringing on democratic ideals and a cause of worry

Facebook allows users to engage in public discourse. However, debates on social network sites are criticised for damaging democracy by adding to polarisation, limiting perspectives, and promoting a derogatory tone driven by emotion and personal conviction rather than facts. Research has thus far mainly focused on visible participation on Facebook, while the experience of this public space remains under-theorised. This study provides insights into women's user experience of Facebook as an arena for public discourse by conducting qualitative interviews with 30 female users of Facebook (aged 19-74) in Norway. The findings revealed interpretive repertoires based on deliberative ideals and negativity toward activities that do not adhere to such ideals. However, the results also indicated that worry was a key factor in negotiating these ideals and sometimes unintentionally replacing them with behaviours that may be harmful to public discussion.publishedVersio