New Forms of Civic Engagement. Implications of Social Media on Civic Engagement and Organization in Scandinavia

On solidarity and volunteering during the COVID-19 crisis in Denmark: the impact of social networks and social media groups on the distribution of support

“…Here we find evidence that goes against the slacktivism theory of digital participation (Morozov 2011;Laer and Aelst 2010). Our data indicate that, in total amount as well as kind of social support, social media facilitated support played a nontrivial role in Danish civil society's response to the COVID-19 crisis, and the level of social media facilitated activity was notably higher than what has been observed in non-crisis times (Eimhjellen 2019). One possible explanation for this divergence is that social media groups are used effectively primarily in crises or emergencies where citizens feel an urge to respond quickly and anticipate too many bureaucratic obstacles in joining established NGO's.…”

“…Figure 2 revealed that 10 per cent of those who offered support did so via social media, rendering it the third-largest organisational setting. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we expected 2-5 per cent of volunteers in Scandinavia to use social media (Eimhjellen 2019). From this perspective, 10 per cent is a relatively high share.…”

Avoiding Intimacy—An Ethnographic Study of Beneficent Boundaries in Virtual Voluntary Social Work

“…To be sure, ICT has long been on the radar of third sector scholars, and studies abound on how many-to-many communication enables new ways of connecting, mobilizing, recruiting, and managing civically engaged people (Amichai-Hamburger, 2008 ; Bennett & Segerberg, 2012 ; Bernholz, 2017 ; Brainard & Brinkerhoff, 2004 ; Eimhjellen, 2019 ; Piatak et al 2019 ). The phenomenon of virtual volunteering, however, is more recent (Ihm, 2017 ), and while the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a host of virtual volunteering initiatives (Carlsen, Toubøl, and Brincker 2020 ), the field of online volunteer research remains in its infancy (Eimhjellen, 2019 ).…”

“…To be sure, ICT has long been on the radar of third sector scholars, and studies abound on how many-to-many communication enables new ways of connecting, mobilizing, recruiting, and managing civically engaged people (Amichai-Hamburger, 2008 ; Bennett & Segerberg, 2012 ; Bernholz, 2017 ; Brainard & Brinkerhoff, 2004 ; Eimhjellen, 2019 ; Piatak et al 2019 ). The phenomenon of virtual volunteering, however, is more recent (Ihm, 2017 ), and while the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a host of virtual volunteering initiatives (Carlsen, Toubøl, and Brincker 2020 ), the field of online volunteer research remains in its infancy (Eimhjellen, 2019 ). At present, the literature is dominated by descriptive and exploratory studies that demarcate and map the field (Ackermann and Manatschal 2018 ; Mukherjee, 2011 ), supply advice to managers of virtual volunteers (Cravens, 2000 ; Dhebar & Stokes, 2008 ), or map the motivations and characteristics of volunteers (Eimhjellen, 2019 ).…”

“…The phenomenon of virtual volunteering, however, is more recent (Ihm, 2017 ), and while the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a host of virtual volunteering initiatives (Carlsen, Toubøl, and Brincker 2020 ), the field of online volunteer research remains in its infancy (Eimhjellen, 2019 ). At present, the literature is dominated by descriptive and exploratory studies that demarcate and map the field (Ackermann and Manatschal 2018 ; Mukherjee, 2011 ), supply advice to managers of virtual volunteers (Cravens, 2000 ; Dhebar & Stokes, 2008 ), or map the motivations and characteristics of volunteers (Eimhjellen, 2019 ). Consequently, questions such as how ICT impacts intra-organizational sensemaking and inequality in voluntary interaction demand further examination (Carlsen, Doerr, and Toubøl 2020 ).…”