Many Clicks but Little Sticks: Social Media Activism in Indonesia

Abstract

Drawing on empirical cases from Indonesia, this article offers a critical approach to the promise of social media activism by analysing the complexity and dynamics of the relationship between social media and its users. Rather than viewing social media activism as the harbinger of social change or dismissing it as mere “slacktivism,” the article provides a more nuanced argument by identifying the conditions under which participation in social media might lead to successful political activism. In social media, networks are vast, content is overly abundant, attention spans are short, and conversations are parsed into diminutive sentences. For social media activism to be translated into populist political activism, it needs to embrace the principles of the contemporary culture of consumption: light package, headline appetite and trailer vision. Social media activism is more likely to successfully mobilise mass support when its narratives are simple, associated with low risk actions and congruent with dominant meta-narratives, such as nationalism and religiosity. Success is less likely when the narrative is contested by dominant competing narratives generated in mainstream media.

Key Words:

• Facebook
• social media
• activism
• Indonesia
• mobilisation

Acknowledgement

This article is based on the research that was partially supported by the Ford Foundation under the Advancing Public Media Interest in Indonesia project and the National Science Foundation’s Social-Computational Systems (SoCS) Program (Award#: IIS-1110868 and IIS-1110649). Figure 1 resulted from the Blogtrackers project funded by the US Office of Naval Research (Award#: N00014101010091). Part of this article was completed while the author was a fellow-in-residence at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) in Leiden, the Netherlands. The author gratefully acknowledges all support. Especial thanks go to Jason Abbott, Kevin Hewison, Pamela Sari, James O’Halloran, and anonymous reviewers, for their valuable input.

Notes

1. Available at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gerakan-1000000-Facebookers-Dukung-Chandra-Hamzah-Bibit-Samad-Riyanto/192945806132 (accessed January 25, 2013).

2. Examples include http://www.facebook.com/SelamatkanIndonesia and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Saya-Cicak-Berani-Melawan-Buaya/167520472821 (both accessed January 25, 2013).

3. The jingle can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSHwQDhDvF0 (accessed January 25, 2013).

4. The original page was at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/290597?m=7c7df20b. It is no longer available.

5. An example is http://www.facebook.com/groups/26083340518 (accessed January 25, 2013).

6. Examples of pages supporting Ahmadiyah are http://www.facebook.com/antikekerasan.ahmadiyah (accessed January 25, 2013), http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dukung-Ahmadiyah-Menjadi-Agama-Baru-di-Indonesia/190168814338999 (the link no longer works as the page has been closed) and http://www.facebook.com/groups/197293916964081/ (accessed January 25, 2013).

7. Examples include http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gerakkan-FACEBOOKers-bubarkan-AHMADIYAH/102692336450372?ref=ts and http://www.facebook.com/groups/188601241161606/ (both accessed January 25, 2013).

8. Loyal supporters of Sri Mulyani continue to use social media for further, more ambitious, agenda by campaigning for her nomination as a 2014 Presidential candidate. Some SMI social media activists became part of the newly-formed Independent People’s Union Party (Partai SRI), whose main goal is to support Sri Mulyani’s campaign in the 2014 Presidential election.