Political Engagement
Getting people engaged in political activity online is a fairly new concept seeing as the internet has only been around for the past 20 years, however methods of distributing political literature have varied throughout the years. Billboards, lawn signs, and flyers have been seen plastered throughout towns during election season to get people out to their town's voting location but now those have all been converted to emails and ads on internet browsers. Since the internet is something that most people use on a daily basis, could engaging people in politics through the internet work or will people just ignore it?
Much like the internet, people had to get used to radio and television seeing as they were new pieces of technology back then. Some people were opposed to it because they thought that it took time away from family and school work. According to Putnam's ‘‘time displacement hypothesis,’’ heavy television viewing distracts from social activities and participation in the community, eroding people’s trust in fellow citizens"(Gil de Zu´niga, 2012). If there is time being taken away from citizen interaction, how can there be any sort of unity in the society? Luckily the times have changed and there have been studies shown proving that the internet is a good way to engage in political and civic activities.
In Aaron Smith's study examining people political efficacy and civic engagement, he found that 39% of his sample size actually do post political information on their facebook or twitter (Smith, 2013). Even though that may seem like a fair percentage, it is only happening online and not in the real world, but researcher Homer Gil de Zu´niga believes that online activity can influence pro-social behavior offline as well. Homer Gil de Zu´niga did a study looking into people who do both on and offline political and community activity. He found that there may be a path in social networking sites (SNS) and real world application. 32.5% of participants who used SNS for local and worldwide news had more of a chance in helping their community and acting in civic engagement (Gil de Zu´niga, 2012). Some of the characteristics that constitute these activities are attending town-hall meetings, writing to elected officials, and even something as simple as showing up to vote on election day. Due to the evidence providing that these types of websites fascinate pro-social behaviors offline as well, it creates a cycle where people contribute to these event offline then go back for more information about the community online and apply them to the real world again in a cyclic fashion (Gil de Zu´niga, 2012).
For example, individual group members may learn that an organization is sponsoring a local meeting, the location and time of a political rally, a link to an online petition, or members may generally feel obligated to take action after participating in online political groups. These activities allow the user to carry out these activities offline due to their involvement and familiarity of the subject online. It has been proven through the theory that Facebook groups provide an online community leading to higher levels of group participation when engaging in political activity. The use of SNS for engagement provides similar characteristics in a real life community. Values and viewpoints are often shown to see what can be improved so that when they decide to apply them in the real world, they have a plan as to what they are going to perform whether it be a rally or movement.
Much like the internet, people had to get used to radio and television seeing as they were new pieces of technology back then. Some people were opposed to it because they thought that it took time away from family and school work. According to Putnam's ‘‘time displacement hypothesis,’’ heavy television viewing distracts from social activities and participation in the community, eroding people’s trust in fellow citizens"(Gil de Zu´niga, 2012). If there is time being taken away from citizen interaction, how can there be any sort of unity in the society? Luckily the times have changed and there have been studies shown proving that the internet is a good way to engage in political and civic activities.
In Aaron Smith's study examining people political efficacy and civic engagement, he found that 39% of his sample size actually do post political information on their facebook or twitter (Smith, 2013). Even though that may seem like a fair percentage, it is only happening online and not in the real world, but researcher Homer Gil de Zu´niga believes that online activity can influence pro-social behavior offline as well. Homer Gil de Zu´niga did a study looking into people who do both on and offline political and community activity. He found that there may be a path in social networking sites (SNS) and real world application. 32.5% of participants who used SNS for local and worldwide news had more of a chance in helping their community and acting in civic engagement (Gil de Zu´niga, 2012). Some of the characteristics that constitute these activities are attending town-hall meetings, writing to elected officials, and even something as simple as showing up to vote on election day. Due to the evidence providing that these types of websites fascinate pro-social behaviors offline as well, it creates a cycle where people contribute to these event offline then go back for more information about the community online and apply them to the real world again in a cyclic fashion (Gil de Zu´niga, 2012).
For example, individual group members may learn that an organization is sponsoring a local meeting, the location and time of a political rally, a link to an online petition, or members may generally feel obligated to take action after participating in online political groups. These activities allow the user to carry out these activities offline due to their involvement and familiarity of the subject online. It has been proven through the theory that Facebook groups provide an online community leading to higher levels of group participation when engaging in political activity. The use of SNS for engagement provides similar characteristics in a real life community. Values and viewpoints are often shown to see what can be improved so that when they decide to apply them in the real world, they have a plan as to what they are going to perform whether it be a rally or movement.