Advocacy 2.0: An Analysis of How Advocacy Groups in the United States Perceive and Use Social Media as Tools for Facilitating Civic Engagement and Collective Action

Obar, Jonathan A.; Zube, Paul; Lampe, Clifford

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1956352

Cited by 59 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The results of this survey of 157 participants from 63 advocacy groups operating in Canada suggest four conclusions: 1) most of the Canadian advocacy groups surveyed are adopting a limited selection of social media technologies, mainly Facebook, Twitter, Obar Canadian Advocacy 2.0 blogs, and YouTube, 2) these same groups perceive social media as offering a variety of beneficial affordances, 3) many groups have reservations about overcommitting to the technology, and 4) when the results of this study are compared with Obar et al (2012), the Canadian groups appear more cautious in their adoption of social media strategy than their American counterparts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…The tasks were adapted from (Obar et al, 2012), and also draw from several "advocacy tactics" noted by Guo and Saxton (2010): grassroots lobbying; public events and direct action; public education; and coalition building.…”

Section: The Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Advocacy groups serve as a unique population for study, as previous research suggests that they are increasingly engaging with new media technologies to advance organizational goals (Biddix, 2010;Bortree & Seltzer, 2009;Guo & Saxton, 2013;Karpf, 2009;Obar, Zube, & Lampe, 2012;Petray, 2011). Furthermore, advocacy groups often attempt to contribute to democratic governance through interactions with the general public-and subsequent representations in the policy arena-by utilizing various "tactics" or "strategies" that could potentially be supported, and even enhanced, by social media (Guo & Saxton, 2013).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Canadian Advocacy 2.0: An Analysis of Social Media Adoption and Perceived Affordances by Advocacy Groups Looking to Advance Activism in Canada

Obar

2014

Canadian Journal of Communication

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: The Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Canadian Advocacy 2.0: An Analysis of Social Media Adoption and Perceived Affordances by Advocacy Groups Looking to Advance Activism in Canada

Obar

2014

Canadian Journal of Communication

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“…For example, disabled people have found social networking platforms to be liberating in the absence of physical and visual barriers experienced in other public venues (Guo, Briscout, and Huang 2005;Seymour and Lupton 2004). However, the idea that online engagement actually produces positive "offline" outcomes in terms of activism, civic engagement, or political engagement, in any age bracket, is still being debated in the academic literature (Bennett, Wells, and Freelon 2011;Christiansen 2011;Conroy, Feezell, and Guerrero 2012;Obar, Zube, and Lampe 2012;Olorunnisola and Martin 2013). There appears, however, to be a correlation between online political engagement and offline political engagement among adults, thus countering the assumption that online political activity replaces offline political activity.…”

Section: Social Media: Inclusive Tools For Change?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Social media and senior citizen advocacy: an inclusive tool to resist ageism?

Trentham

Sokoloff

Tsang

et al. 2015

Politics, Groups, and Identities

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With population aging, interest groups demand that governments act to prevent a perceived financial crisis. Senior citizens remain frustrated in their efforts to influence the response of policy-makers. In an effort to strengthen their voice, one group of senior citizens, engaged in a participatory action research project, questioned how online social media could be used in their advocacy efforts. This query led to an examination of the literature with the primary objective of determining what is known about the use of social media by senior citizens for the purposes of social advocacy. The outcomes of the review revealed that very few studies specifically examined this question. Senior citizen online roles were depicted as consumers of health information or socializers with family and friends. Ageist assumptions informed the design of computer hardware, online formats and norms for social engagement. Senior citizens have concerns about the trustworthiness of social networking sites and while social media can exclude senior citizens from public debate, the authors conclude that the pressing issue is to focus on age-friendly design and supports. With these in place, social media can provide a venue for senior citizens to challenge ageism and influence public policy discourses.Keywords: social media; ageism; senior citizenship; advocacy; political activism IntroductionThe questions examined in this paper arose from discussions with a group of senior citizen activists involved in the participatory action research project (PAR), Exercising Senior Citizenship in an Ageist Society, under the facilitation of the first author and fourth author. This group of senior citizens (the term "senior citizen" used advisedly to convey seniors as participants in valued social roles who hold the rights and responsibilities of citizens) is actively involved in advocacy work focused on the provision of adequate supportive home services within the province of Ontario, Canada. In their efforts to be heard, the group is exploring the use of social media as a tool and venue to give voice to their message. Early on, one of the senior members and long-time activist (age 93) expressed frustration with the increasing use of online technologies for communication and advocacy work, which she experiences as a form of social exclusion. She lamented that while younger people grew up with this technology, many older adults are left "in a void" © 2015 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http:// creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. *Corresponding author. Email: b.trentham@utoronto.ca Politics, Groups, and Identities, 2015 Vol. 3, No. 3, 558-571, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2015 and at a disadvantage when it comes t...

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“…[1][2][3] With Facebook alone, recently reporting nearly 1.2 billion active monthly users and 728 million active daily users, 4 it becomes important to study and understand the implications of the global reach and influence of social networking technologies. Social networking platforms allow users to communicate globally and learn from people from various cultures, religious ideologies, and political affiliations.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Social Networking Technologies on Female Religious Veil-Wearing Behavior in Iran

Young

Shakiba²,

Kwok³

et al. 2014

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

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Social networking technologies can influence attitudes, behaviors, and social norms. Research on this topic has been conducted primarily among early adopters of technology and within the United States. However, it is important to evaluate how social media might affect people's behaviors in international settings, especially among countries with longstanding, government recommended, cultural and religious traditions and behaviors, such as Iran. This study seeks to assess whether Iranian women who have been using social networking technologies for a longer time (compared to those who have recently joined) would be less likely to cover themselves with a veil and be more comfortable publicly displaying pictures of this behavior on Facebook. Iranian females (N = 253) were selected through snowball sampling from nongovernmental organizations in November 2011 and asked to complete a survey assessing their use of Facebook, concerns about not wearing a veil in Facebook pictures, and their actual likelihood of wearing a veil. Items were combined to measure lack of interest in wearing a veil. Length of time as a Facebook user was significantly associated with not wearing a veil (b = 0.16, p < 0.01), controlling for age, education, and frequency of using Facebook. Results also revealed a significant relationship such that older people were more likely to adhere to the religious behavior of wearing a veil (b = -0.45, p < 0.01). Social networking technologies can affect attitudes and behaviors internationally. We discuss methods of using social media for self-presentation and expression, as well as the difficulties (and importance) of studying use of technologies, such as social media, internationally.

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Advocacy 2.0: An Analysis of How Advocacy Groups in the United States Perceive and Use Social Media as Tools for Facilitating Civic Engagement and Collective Action

Cited by 59 publications

References 24 publications

Canadian Advocacy 2.0: An Analysis of Social Media Adoption and Perceived Affordances by Advocacy Groups Looking to Advance Activism in Canada

Canadian Advocacy 2.0: An Analysis of Social Media Adoption and Perceived Affordances by Advocacy Groups Looking to Advance Activism in Canada

Social media and senior citizen advocacy: an inclusive tool to resist ageism?

The Influence of Social Networking Technologies on Female Religious Veil-Wearing Behavior in Iran

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