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Social Media, Culture and Politics in Asia

by Lars Willnat (Volume editor) Annette Aw (Volume editor)
©2014 Textbook XII, 350 Pages

Summary

The Internet’s explosive growth over the past decade is nowhere more visible than in Asia. Fueled by an expanding middle class, thousands of people connect to the Internet for the first time each day to explore and discuss issues that are relevant to them and their lives.
This book provides an in-depth look at the impact of social media on political engagement among young citizens in this rapidly changing region of the world. Leading media scholars from nine Asian nations focus on three main questions:
How frequently do Asians use social media to access and discuss political information?
Does the use of social media increase political participation?
What political, social and cultural factors influence the impact of social media on political engagement in each nation?
To answer these questions, contributors first analyze the current state of social media in their nations and then present the findings of a cross-national survey on social media use that was conducted with over 3,500 Asian respondents. By employing a comparative approach, they analyze how social media function and interact with the cultural and political systems in each country – and how they might affect political engagement among individual citizens.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author(s)/editor(s)
  • About the book
  • Advance praise for Social Media, Culture and Politics in Asia
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • Preface
  • References
  • 1. Social Media, Culture, and Politics in Asia
  • Social Media and Politics in Asia
  • Structure of the Book
  • Chapter Overviews
  • Note
  • References
  • 2. Social Media and Political Participation: Review of the Literature
  • Social Media’s Political Significance
  • Individual Factors Predicting Social Media Use
  • Measuring Social Media Use and Political Participation
  • Analyzing Social Media Platforms
  • Youth and Social Media
  • Effects on Political Participation
  • Election Campaign Participation
  • Political Protest
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • Social Media and Political Participation in Asia
  • 3. Social Media and Political Participation in China
  • Online Media and Politics in China
  • Social Media in China
  • Microblogging in China
  • Online Videos and Egao
  • Political Impact of Social Media in China
  • Economic Priority
  • Political Censorship
  • Social Stratification
  • Youth Culture
  • Survey Analysis
  • Political Satisfaction and Confidence in Government
  • Internet and Social Media Use
  • Exposure to Traditional and Online News
  • News from Alternative Media Platforms
  • Attention to Politics and Discussion of Politics
  • Offline and Online Political Participation
  • Media Use and Political Participation
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • 4. Hong Kong: Social Media and Political Participation in a “Protest Society”
  • Internet and Political Participation in Hong Kong
  • Contextual Factors Behind Social Media Use in Hong Kong
  • Survey Analysis
  • Political Satisfaction and Confidence in Government
  • Internet and Social Media Use
  • Exposure to Traditional and Online News
  • News from Alternative Media Platforms
  • Attention to Politics and Discussion of Politics Offline and Online
  • Offline and Online Political Participation
  • Social Media and Political Participation
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • 5. Social Media and Political Participation in Taiwan
  • The Internet in Taiwan
  • Online News
  • Social Media in Taiwan
  • Political Changes in Taiwan
  • Political Participation in Taiwan
  • The Internet and Politics in Taiwan
  • Online Media and the 2012 Presidential Election
  • Social Factors Affecting Social Media Use and Political Participation
  • Cultural Factors Affecting Social Media Use and Political Participation
  • Survey Analysis
  • Internet Use
  • Traditional Media Use
  • Use of Alternative Media Platforms
  • Political Discussions
  • Online and Offline Political Participation
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • 6. New Media and Participatory Politics: The Case of South Korea
  • Digital Media in Korea
  • Digital Media and Korea’s Political Landscape
  • Political and Social Context
  • Social Media in the 2012 Presidential Election: A Double-Edged Sword?
  • Survey Analysis
  • Political Satisfaction and Confidence in Government
  • The Internet and Social Media Use
  • Exposure to Traditional and Online News
  • News from Other Media Platforms
  • Attention to Politics and the Discussion of Politics
  • Online and Offline Political Participation
  • Media Use and Political Participation
  • Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
  • 7. Social Media and Political Participation in Japan
  • Internet in Japan
  • Social Media in Japan
  • Online Media and Political Participation in Japan
  • Context of Online Media Use in Japan
  • Political Constraints
  • Social Constraints
  • Cultural Constraints
  • Survey Analysis
  • Political Satisfaction and Confidence in Government
  • Internet and Social Media Use
  • Exposure to Traditional and Online News
  • News from Other Media Platforms
  • Attention to Politics and Discussion of Politics Offline and Online
  • Offline and Online Political Participation
  • Media Use and Political Participation
  • Conclusions
  • References
  • 8. Social Media and Political Participation in Malaysia
  • A Brief Note About Malaysia
  • Online Media in Malaysia
  • News Websites
  • Blogs
  • Facebook
  • Studies on Online and Social Media
  • Studies of the 2008 General Election
  • The Cultural, Social, and Political Environment
  • Political Factors
  • Social Factors
  • Cultural Factors
  • Survey Analysis
  • Method
  • Political Satisfaction and Confidence in the Government
  • Internet and Social Media Use
  • Exposure to Traditional and Online News
  • Exposure to Alternative Media Platforms
  • Attention to Politics and Discussion of Politics
  • Offline and Online Political Participation
  • Media Use and Political Participation
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • 9. Social Media and Political Participation in Singapore
  • Internet Access and Social Media Use in Singapore
  • The Internet and Political Participation in Singapore
  • Social Media and the 2011 Election
  • Survey Analysis
  • Political Satisfaction and Confidence in Government
  • Internet, Social Media, and Traditional Media Use
  • Political Discussion and Offline and Online Political Participation
  • Media Use and Political Participation
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • 10. Social Media and Political Participation in Thailand
  • Internet Access
  • Mobile Phone Access
  • Online News
  • Social Media in Thailand
  • Political Use of Social Media
  • Press Freedom in Thailand
  • The 1992 “Black May” Crises
  • Rise and Fall of the Thaksin Government
  • Freedom of Online Media
  • Internet and Political Participation in Thailand
  • Social Media and the 2010 Red Shirt Protests
  • Survey Analysis
  • Political Satisfaction and Confidence in Government
  • Internet and Social Media Use
  • Exposure to Traditional and Online News
  • News from Alternative Media Platforms
  • Attention to Politics and Discussion of Politics Offline and Online
  • Offline and Online Political Participation
  • Social Media and Political Participation
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • 11. India Youth and Social Media: Modes of Engagement?
  • Indians on the Net
  • Growth of Internet in India
  • Profile of Indian Internet Users
  • Mobile Phones
  • Digital Divides
  • Online Media and Indian Law
  • News Media in India
  • Getting Social on the Internet
  • Diverse User Base
  • The Internet and Political Engagement in India
  • Survey Analysis
  • Political Satisfaction
  • Internet and Social Media Use
  • Most Important News Source
  • Alternative News Platforms
  • Attention to News and Political Discussions
  • Offline and Online Political Participation
  • Predictors of Political Participation
  • Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
  • Comparative Survey Analysis
  • 12. Social Media and Political Participation in Nine Asian Nations
  • Survey Method
  • Survey Analysis
  • General Satisfaction with Democracy and Trust in Government
  • General Internet and Social Media Usage
  • Exposure to Mainstream Media
  • Offline and Online Political Discussions
  • Public Affairs Knowledge
  • Offline and Online Political Participation
  • Associations Between Social Media Use and Political Participation
  • Predictors of Online Political Participation
  • Predictors of Offline Political Participation
  • Civic Involvement.
  • News Media Use.
  • Political Social Media Use.
  • Predictors of Public Affairs Knowledge
  • Civic Involvement.
  • News Media Use.
  • Political Social Media Use.
  • Conclusions
  • References
  • Conclusions
  • 13. Conclusion
  • What CaN We Conclude?
  • Summary of Cross-National Survey Findings
  • Summary of Literature on Social Media and Political Participation in Asia
  • China.
  • Hong Kong.
  • Taiwan.
  • Korea.
  • Singapore.
  • Malaysia.
  • Japan.
  • Thailand.
  • India.
  • References
  • Appendix—Survey Questionnaire
  • International Survey on Social Media Use in Asia
  • Local Knowledge Questions
  • China:
  • Hong Kong:
  • India:
  • Japan:
  • Taiwan:
  • Thailand:
  • Singapore:
  • Korea
  • Malaysia
  • Contributors
  • Author Index
  • Subject Index

| vii →

 

Preface

Christine Ogan

The terms social media and social networks may be relatively new as they are applied to today’s many web communities like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so forth, where members of these communities exchange information, pictures, videos and opinions. But social media began with e-mail, a sort of by-product of the U.S. government’s ARPANET and CompuServe’s time-sharing services, which were founded in 1969 (Edosomwan, Sitalaskshmi, Kouame, Watson, & Seymour, 2011). In the 1970s, the online multiuser game Dungeon included an online chat feature for its users. And for as long as the Internet has existed, a major characteristic and source of its popularity has been its social nature.

Even before the establishment of browsers and easier Internet access, bulletin board systems (BBSs) allowed people to dial up to communicate with others around a particular topic of interest—including political interests. Though these systems were largely local in the beginning, they soon expanded to include more widespread and diverse populations. Their popularity became so great in the early 1980s that several magazines were published describing new uses for the discussion boards. As an early user and researcher of this social medium, I subscribed to one of these, Boardwatch, for several years.

The second dissertation I supervised at Indiana University focused on an example of early social media, a free-net that served the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and gave free access to e-mail and Usenet groups until its closing in 1999. The dissertation ← vii | viii → was written in 1989, the author was Clinton Swift, and the topic was the audience activity that took place on this bulletin board. However, Swift was not the first to examine bulletin boards—and especially the political conversations that took place with computer mediation. Garramone, Harris, and Anderson (1986) applied uses and gratifications theory to examine the political motivations for using bulletin board systems and found that surveillance and curiosity were the most frequently mentioned uses. Users of these systems ranked the BBSs highly for satisfying their surveillance needs, but they were motivated equally by surveillance, personal identity, and diversion in their use.

This brief overview is provided to illustrate that communication related to political participation has always been social. What was new in the early days of the Internet was the use of technology to expand those conversations to a much larger network. And once Web 2.0 allowed an even more sophisticated and expanded network that could provide instantaneous interaction with anyone located almost anywhere, the applications we now refer to as social media became possible.

Though such networks have their roots in the United States, they are not defined by any specific culture. It is simply a characteristic of human beings to be social and to discuss politics within these networks. In some ways, social networks are no different from face-to-face discussions over coffee or tea in any part of the world; only the scope and size of these networks vary from other forms of political discussions.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project (2012) surveyed people in 21 countries about their use of social networks in 2012. In the United Sates, Russia, the Czech Republic and Spain, about half of all adults use such sites. While in 20 countries, 67% use the sites for sharing opinions related to music and movies, the study found “significant numbers also post their views on community issues, sports and politics” (Pew Global, 2012). Between 60% and 68% of those using social networks in four Arab countries say they share their views about politics. Fewer respondents in the Asian countries of this study (China and Japan were included) said they discussed politics in social networks (35% for China and 22% for Japan). However, 48% of Chinese and 64% of Japanese use their cell phones to get political news (Pew Global, 2012). Nielsen’s global survey supported that finding. In the Asia-Pacific region, 93% connect to social networks via computer, but 59% also connect through their mobile phone—a larger percentage than in other regions outside North America (Nielsen, 2012).

Some social networks are dedicated to political discussions—personal blogs and some microblogging sites are good examples—but more frequently political discussions are just one of many kinds of topics discussed within a social network (as for Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube). Social networks have often been described as new tools for the promotion of democracy. The most recent example of this view was the ← viii | ix → Arab Spring, where it was said that social-media-based activism brought down the government in Egypt. Hussain and Howard’s (2012) analysis of social media content does indeed attribute a major role to digital media in the street protests in several Middle Eastern country uprisings, particularly in providing an infrastructure for social movements heretofore unseen in the region, but they cautioned that there are other factors that need to be taken into account when examining the causes and the effectiveness of social media in these revolutions:

Despite the ample evidence illustrating the role of digital media in the Arab Spring, it would be a mistake to suggest the democratic potential of information technology without considering the important roles that regimes play in managing or limiting their applications. Indeed, there are several regimes that have very sophisticated strategies to effectively co-opt or coerce technology providers. (p. 12)

The Chinese government has played such a role in its censorship of various social media and other Internet sites. Their most recent policy is to force the 368 million users of Sina Weibo, the country’s Twitter equivalent, to register with their real names if they wish to post on the site. Such authoritarian actions serve to prevent political communication that is critical of governments.

The more repressive governments represented in this book may not be able to manipulate social media users through censorship forever, as witnessed by the social change-focused movements across the Middle East and North Africa. Howard and Hussain’s (2011) analysis of variables impacting such change in those countries concluded the following:

It may make more sense to think of conjoined causal combinations: the strength of existing opposition movements, the ability (or inability) of the regime to buy off opposition leaders, and the use of digital media to build opposition networks. The precise mixture of causes may have varied from country to country, but the one consistent component has been digital media. (p. 41)

Protest aimed at social change is not the only type of political communication that can take place in online forums, however. As Clay Shirky (2011) has said, “the potential of social media lies mainly in their support of civil society and the public sphere—change measured in years and decades rather than in weeks or months” (p. 3). For the countries in this volume that can be classified as democracies at any level, social media can help support civil society and the public sphere. To serve as places defined as a mediating commons, people must trust and respect these networks, said Lagos (2012), a political communication scholar. In fact, he argued that social networks function like democracies as places where members friend, defriend, like, and dislike others and their ideas. ← ix | x →

Social media can provide a space for people to become more politically active through discussions with friends and acquaintances. In the 1998 and 2000 national elections in the United States, before today’s social networks were created, Tolbert and McNeal (2003) found that using the Internet for political news was significantly and positively related to political participation. Though several studies have tried to examine social media use and relate it to political participation, it is probably too soon to say anything definitive about that relationship. We would probably need to also confine the study to younger voters who use these networks extensively. Scholars tend to focus such study on civic engagement in the United States, so it is exciting to see a book that examines this topic across a range of Asian countries and try to compare the outcomes of those studies with work being conducted in the United States.

One fear is that people living in any country will choose to communicate only with those who are of like mind and they may shut out the opinions of those with whom they disagree, therefore obtaining political information that is more limiting than what they might find in a national newspaper or broadcast channel, for example. A presocial network-era study by Wilhelm (1998) of online forums found few sustained political conversations online and that the content of those discussions was largely among people with similar political views. A later in-depth study of 69 users of online message boards found just the opposite—that people welcome the diversity of views of those who have different perspectives on political topics (Stromer-Galley, 2003), and that people often found it difficult to accept opinions they thought were less informed than their own. More extended systematic studies need to be conducted on this topic to analyze the extent of exposure to diverse opinions, the degree to which opposing views are seriously considered, and any opinion and behavior change that might result.

Much work is needed on a range of issues related to political participation and the effects of social media in a range of cultural environments. This book provides a good beginning on that work from the perspective of Asian countries.

References

Edosomwan, S., Sitalaskshmi, K. P., Kouame, D., Watson, J., & Seymour, T. (2011). The history of social media and its impact on business. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 16(3), 79–91.

Garramone, G., Harris, A. C., & Anderson, R. (1986). Uses of political computer bulletin boards. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 30(3), 325–339.

Howard, P. N., & Hussain, M. M. (2011). The role of digital media. Journal of Democracy, 22(3), 35–48.

Hussain, M. M., & Howard, P. N. (2012, April). Democracy’s fourth wave? Information technologies and the fuzzy causes of the Arab Spring. Paper presented at the meeting of the International Studies Association, San Diego, California. ← x | xi →

Lagos, T. (2012). Social media—the public sphere on steroids. The Seattle Times. Retrieved from http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2018143386_guest06lagos.html

Nielsen. (2012). State of the media: The social media report 2012. Retrieved from http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports-downloads/2012/state-of-the-media-the-social-media-report-2012.html

Pew Global Attitudes Project. (2012). Social networking popular across globe. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/12/12/social-networking-popular-across-globe/

Shirky, C. (2011, January/February). The political power of social media: Technology, the public sphere and political change. Foreign Affairs, 28–36.

Stromer-Galley, S. (2003). Diversity of political conversation on the Internet: Users’ perspectives. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 8(3). Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol8/issue3/stromergalley.html

Swift, C. R. (1989). Audience activity in computer-mediated communication (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

Tolbert, C. J., & McNeal, R. S. (2003). Unraveling the effects of the Internet on political participation. Political Research Quarterly, 56(2), 175–185.

Willhelm, A. G. (1998). Virtual sounding boards: How deliberative is on-line political discussion? Information, Communication & Society, 1(3), 313–338.

| 1 →

Social Media, Culture, and Politics in Asia

Lars Willnat & Annette Aw

The Internet’s explosive growth during the last decade is nowhere more visible than in Asia. Fueled by an expanding middle class in such countries as India or China, each day hundreds of thousands of people connect to the Internet for the first time to explore and discuss issues that are relevant to their lives. There are now more than 1 billion Internet users in Asia, representing about 44% of all netizens worldwide.1 About 800 million Asians also use social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, accessed increasingly through mobile communication devices such as cell phones or tablets.

Despite such proliferation, the political function of the Internet in this global region remains relatively unexplored. While it is certain that political participation is not the primary reason that most people go online, the Internet has become a key player in Asian politics. Political parties throughout Asia now recognize the Internet’s reach and have created websites and other online applications that let citizens directly access political information. Online forums and blogs also have become important alternative political information sources in countries that lack a free press. In addition, the spread of microblogs has led to a large amount of user-generated content that threatens the control over political information that many Asian governments have taken for granted. Access to digital media in nations such as China, Singapore, or Malaysia, therefore, might have profound effects on their citizens’ political engagement. ← 1 | 2 →

Although some media scholars argue that the Internet’s potential as a virtual public sphere is limited because it might fragment audiences and distract citizens with trivial content (Davis, 1999; Galston, 2003; Sunstein, 2001), others contend that it can lower the economic, temporal, and psychological costs of political participation (Bonchek, 1997; Negroponte, 1995; Rash, 1997; Toffler & Toffler 1995). Political groups on Facebook, for example, allow users to discuss any topic at any time or location (Polat, 2005), which frees individuals from traditional costs, such as attending a town hall meeting at a fixed time or place. Online groups also can enhance a person’s conversation network (Davis, 2005; Moy & Gastil, 2006) and offer opportunities to hear and voice conflicting opinions (Price, 2006). In addition, Ward, Gibson, and Lusoli (2003) suggested that the Internet can contribute to participation by bringing new individuals or groups into the political process. This might be especially true for young citizens, who may be more likely to participate in politics online rather than offline.

Two primary models explain how online media might influence political participation. The mobilization hypothesis suggests that online media reduce communication costs, increase information access, and create new opportunities for participation. This, in turn, might empower “new activists” (Norris, 2002) and increase democratic participation. However, the reinforcement hypothesis posits that online media only reinforce existing power structures and user motivations, rather than create new ones.

While reinforcement effects are more likely in countries with democratic traditions and free media systems, mobilization effects should be more common in nondemocratic nations with restricted mainstream media. Given the lack of critical and uncensored political information in many Asian mainstream media, access to free and diverse online media should motivate and engage most citizens.

However, Internet penetration varies greatly throughout Asia, from about 1% in Burma and Timor-Leste to more than 80% in Japan and South Korea. With an estimated 618 million Internet users, China now has the world’s largest online population, yet only about 5 in 10 Chinese have Internet access (China Internet Network Information Center, 2014). In India, which represents Asia’s second-largest Internet population with 137 million users, the digital divide is even larger, as only about 1 in 10 citizens have Internet access (Internet World Stats, 2013). In short, the effects of the Internet on political participation and democratization have just begun to emerge, as only a minority of citizens in many Asian nations can go online. This book’s overall objective is to explore these effects in several Asian nations with different political, cultural, and social environments.

While the book explores associations between political participation and various types of digital media, the focus is on the potential effects of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Social media, which we here define as Internet-based applications ← 2 | 3 → that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010), play an important democratic role in nations where traditional media (newspapers, television, radio) are either controlled by the government or hampered by limited resources. In countries such as China, Singapore, or Malaysia, for example, social media allow citizens to learn about and discuss political issues without having to rely on progovernment media that only provide one-sided news and information. But even in democratic nations such as South Korea, Taiwan, or Japan, social media can increase political participation among citizens who are attracted by the relatively low “cost” of engaging in politics online and the fact that such interactive media provide them with a clear voice in the public sphere.

Thus, even though social media are just emerging as powerful tools in Asian politics, the potential impact of social media on political participation in Asia might be significant. However, it is important to evaluate the effects of social media within each nation’s political, social, and cultural environment. Social media users in Thailand, for example, might be motivated by a very different set of reasons to become engaged in the political process than social media users in India. The goal of this book is to not only identify these reasons but also to use them for evaluating the long-term impact of social media on Asian politics.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICS IN ASIA

Details

Pages
XII, 350
Year
2014
ISBN (PDF)
9781453912416
ISBN (ePUB)
9781454191698
ISBN (MOBI)
9781454191681
ISBN (Softcover)
9781433118777
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781433118784
DOI
10.3726/978-1-4539-1241-6
Language
English
Publication date
2013 (December)
Keywords
comparative approach political systems political engagement
Published
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien, 2014. 366 pp.

Biographical notes

Lars Willnat (Volume editor) Annette Aw (Volume editor)

Lars Willnat (PhD, Indiana University) is Professor of Journalism at Indiana University. He is the author of more than 50 journal articles and book chapters and is a co-editor of The Global Journalist in the 21st Century (2012) and Political Communication in Asia (2009). He is a co-author of Empirical Political Analysis: Research Methods in Political Science (2008). Annette Aw (PhD, University of Oklahoma) is Professor at the University of Maryland University College. She is also a research consultant focusing on media-related studies for private businesses, trade associations and government agencies.

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