Of the five articles we were assigned, three of them stood out the most to me. I was most intrigued by Tufekci and Wilson (2012), Gerodimos (2012), and Castells (2007). Tufekci and Wilson (2012) looked at how social media impacted participation in the 2011 Egyptian protests. To me, what was most interesting about this article was the risks that the researchers must have taken in obtaining the data. I’m sure that most of us remember some of the violent scenes we saw on television, and although it is an interesting article, I’m just not sure if obtaining the data was worth the risk. That being said, it is impressive to have so much data from such a historic event. The article states that 1,200 individuals were surveyed. It is amazing how this much data was collected during such a chaotic event. The article found that social media use did appear to positively impact first day protest attendance. The article also discussed how individual attenders worked sort of like reporters in taking their own photos and videos of the event, and then displaying these findings for others to see over the Internet. The study found that most who did this used Facebook. It was also interesting to read about how the Egyptian government tried to stop the information spread by shutting down the Internet. However, information continued to spread as a small amount of people were able to find a way around the government’s actions (Tufekci & Wilson, 2012).

I also found Gerodimos’ (2012) article to be interesting. This article looked at the willingness of young people to engage with civic websites. The most interesting findings to me where the two tables that displayed civic motivators and de-motivators. For example, one civic motivator was coded as “feeling I could make a difference or that my voice counts” (Gerodimos, 2012). I think that most of us can probably relate to this one. Why would we be motivated to do something if we did not feel that it made any difference? I think that this qualitative work can help future studies in this area.

As previously stated, I also found Castells (2007) article to be interesting. Although I may not agree with everything in the article, I found one quote early in his article to be very informative. Castells (2007) stated “the fundamental battle being fought in society is the battle over the minds of the people. The way people think determines the fate of norms and values on which societies are constructed” (p.238). We can see this battle taking place everyday. This is especially true as we come upon next weeks presidential election. Each candidate is trying to influence how voters think, and therefore, the voters are being infiltrated with a myriad of political messages.

References:

Castells, M. (2007). Communication, power and counter-power in the network society. International Journal of Communication, 1, 238-266.

Gerodimos, R. (2012). Online youth civic attitudes and the limits of civic consumerism. Information, Communication & Society, 15, 217-245.

Tufekci, Z., & Wilson, C. (2012). Social media and the decision to participate in political protest: Observations from Tahrir Square. Journal of Communication, 62, 363-379.