As students at an institution composed largely of traditional undergraduate students, it doesn’t come as a surprise to learn that the internet and social media are integral pieces of community involvement. Student organizations rely on social media for internal and external communication as much as, if not more than, civic organizations not affiliated with the University. So, most of us don’t need to be convinced that these tools are important for community engagement. However, it would be wise for us to pay attention to what our readings this week have to say about howpeople use social media within community organizations. To me, the most interesting static was the one which alluded to how we select leaders. In the Rainie, Purcell, and Smith study, the researchers found that only 35% of Americans feel the internet has a notable impact on this process. “”Finding people to take leadership roles” is the activity for which the internet is viewed as having the smallest impact,” they say. “…35% of Americans feel that the internet has a “major impact” on this aspect of group dynamics, a figure that is notably smaller than the other group impacts we evaluated.” This tells us a lot about how the internet is affecting group life and voluntary participation in the U.S. by showing where the internet falls short. Most of us still feel that the internet alone does not serve as a reliable resource for discerning who should lead. Perhaps as the worlds of television and internet media continue to converge, this sentiment will change. For now, perhaps this tells us that many feel the internet is still too impersonal and fluid to function alone in making these important decisions.
6 thoughts on “Take Me To Our Leader”
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You bring up a good point. We definitely find the internet to be a useful tool when communicating and organizing with one another, but we still seem to distrust certain things we read on the net. When it comes to selecting a leader, you have to reach a consensus with a group of people. This is difficult in person or online. People rarely seem to agree on anything. I would be interested to see additional research about this in the future.
I agree with you that 35% is a small percentage of Americans who said that groups have major impact on selecting a leader. I also agree with you that the political category is small comparing with other groups. I think this is because the online communities are established for people to socialized, for commercial, and volunteer work. For examples, the findings of Jansen’s study show that 40% of Americans are active in religious or spiritual organiation and that this percentage is the largest for any type of groups or organizations.
I think, a lot of times, internet groups feel they don’t need leaders because it’s just an open environment that encourages people to get involved and participate. After one person suggests a topic people usually take it from there and everyone jumps in as they feel. There is no one who will say “alright, next topic”, there is just a natural shift in subject. I think the internet’s relaxed environment encourages the disuse of leaders.
I also agree that with the idea that internet groups do not need a leader. The lack of Leadership is a notion of communication that seems to be able to only exist online.
I think as far as choosing a leader goes, its better to vote and have debates and actually talk to people in person. I don’t think the internet can really take the place of that.
I think a lot of people, especially those in our age group, don’t turn to the internet for information when selecting a leader because we simply get too annoyed with the way the information is presented! I remember hearing everyone in Political Communication go on and on about how they hated everyone who was talking about politics on Facebook, Twitter, etc and how they wanted to just turn it all off until after the election! I also think many would rather watch the debates and actively research the candidates, then read multiple things on the internet that may or may not be true. I think you make an excellent point, though, that many still fell the internet is “still too impersonal” to help us with these decisions.