The weapon of a new generation?—Swedish Civil Society Organizations’ use of social media to influence politics
(2017) In Journal of Information Technology & Politics p.1-16- Abstract
- The article examines the extent of and factors behind Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs’) use of social media to influence politics compared with nondigital political strategies, that is, using the traditional media and demonstrations. Taking stock of previous research on information and communication technologies, social media, and political influence, the relevance of four sets of factors is tested: resources, resource dependency, geographic level of activity, and age of the organization. Based on survey data on 907 Swedish CSOs, the results show that social media is used alongside other strategies with no trade-off between them. Furthermore, the use of social media is highly resource-demanding both in terms of membership base and staff... (More)
- The article examines the extent of and factors behind Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs’) use of social media to influence politics compared with nondigital political strategies, that is, using the traditional media and demonstrations. Taking stock of previous research on information and communication technologies, social media, and political influence, the relevance of four sets of factors is tested: resources, resource dependency, geographic level of activity, and age of the organization. Based on survey data on 907 Swedish CSOs, the results show that social media is used alongside other strategies with no trade-off between them. Furthermore, the use of social media is highly resource-demanding both in terms of membership base and staff employed. Although it is not affected by public resource dependency, it is useful when trying to influence both the local and national level. Younger generations of CSOs are also more likely to make use of social media. The results suggest that the rise of the Internet as a channel for political communication might strengthen an elite of organizations that already has access to other channels for influencing policy. Digital politics might, however, also help bring forth new actors and perhaps new voices in the political debate, as long as they are able to mobilize enough resources. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1601224c-693e-4d82-96d9-bf6d4c236694
- author
- Scaramuzzino, Gabriella LU and Scaramuzzino, Roberto LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017-02-13
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Civil society organisations, ICT and politics, political communication, political influence, social media, Sweden, survey data
- in
- Journal of Information Technology & Politics
- pages
- 16 pages
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85012248697
- wos:000399179200004
- ISSN
- 1933-1681
- DOI
- 10.1080/19331681.2016.1276501
- project
- Beyond the welfare state: Europeanization of Swedish civil society organizations (EUROCIV)
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1601224c-693e-4d82-96d9-bf6d4c236694
- date added to LUP
- 2017-02-22 08:48:36
- date last changed
- 2022-04-24 22:00:17
@article{1601224c-693e-4d82-96d9-bf6d4c236694,
abstract = {{The article examines the extent of and factors behind Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs’) use of social media to influence politics compared with nondigital political strategies, that is, using the traditional media and demonstrations. Taking stock of previous research on information and communication technologies, social media, and political influence, the relevance of four sets of factors is tested: resources, resource dependency, geographic level of activity, and age of the organization. Based on survey data on 907 Swedish CSOs, the results show that social media is used alongside other strategies with no trade-off between them. Furthermore, the use of social media is highly resource-demanding both in terms of membership base and staff employed. Although it is not affected by public resource dependency, it is useful when trying to influence both the local and national level. Younger generations of CSOs are also more likely to make use of social media. The results suggest that the rise of the Internet as a channel for political communication might strengthen an elite of organizations that already has access to other channels for influencing policy. Digital politics might, however, also help bring forth new actors and perhaps new voices in the political debate, as long as they are able to mobilize enough resources.}},
author = {{Scaramuzzino, Gabriella and Scaramuzzino, Roberto}},
issn = {{1933-1681}},
keywords = {{Civil society organisations; ICT and politics; political communication; political influence; social media; Sweden; survey data}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
pages = {{1--16}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{Journal of Information Technology & Politics}},
title = {{The weapon of a new generation?—Swedish Civil Society Organizations’ use of social media to influence politics}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2016.1276501}},
doi = {{10.1080/19331681.2016.1276501}},
year = {{2017}},
}