Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Civic engagement has traditionally involved a physical engagement in form of demonstrations, volunteering or donating money in an attempt to solve civic problems. Since the rise of social media, with Facebook in particular, the opportunities to support different causes have dramatically increased. Today, all it takes to engage in a social cause is a click of a button. The use of social media has also increased the social observability of our actions affecting how people interact and present themselves in an online environment. This study aims to increase the understanding of how the public environment provided on Facebook influence the motives behind engaging in a social cause on the platform. The empirical data was collected through focus group interviews. The findings of the study indicated that engagement in a social cause was affected by if people viewed themselves as an active or passive user. Furthermore the findings show that two important motives to engage in a social cause on Facebook were the need to be consistent with previous behavior and the need to present a positive image. In conclusion we found that the setting (i.e. private/public) where people interacted with each other affected the motive to engage in a social cause. People found it easier to engage in a social cause in a private setting than in a public one. Moreover engagement in a private setting had a larger impact than in a public setting because of the absence of impression management motives.
Authors: John Bartholdsson, Tom Widenfelt
Language: Swedish
Topic: Social Media and Politics
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W957871686