Sharing and liking as youth nano-level participation. Finnish students’ civic and political engagement in social media

ABSTRACT

This study examines the types and prevalence of Finnish students’ civic and political online participation such as posting, commenting, sharing or liking social media posts. We focus particularly on the use of Facebook like and share buttons for civic and political purposes, which we conceptualize as ‘nano-level participation’ and discuss in light of the debate on ‘slacktivism’. Our data comes from a classroom survey among 194 Finnish university students of social and political sciences and philosophy in 2017–2018. The data thus describe the using habits of a social media vanguard – young Finns who live and breathe social media and who are interested in social and political issues. Our results reveal the persisting importance of Facebook as a platform for youth engagement and emphasize the prevalence and significance of nano-level participation as a neglected form of youth online engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• Young adulthood
• citizenship
• media
• politics
• youth culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In Finland, the development of civil society has been inherently intertwined to state – an interesting topic which exceeds the confines of this article.

2 Van Deth’s notion of political participation thus largely dissolves the commonly used distinction between civic and political engagement. For a more detailed description see Van Deth (2014) and for further discussion on the notion of political participation, see (Pickard 2019; Theocharis and van Deth 2018; Van Deth 2014; Hooghe, Hosch-Dayican, and van Deth 2014)

3 Theocharis and van Deth (2018) went on conduct a representative of study German population in 2015 with the help of their conceptual framework. They found that old and new forms were integrated in a taxonomy of six forms: voting, digitally networked participation (DNS), institutionalized participation, protest, civic participation and consumerist participation. Of these DNS formed a new and distinct mode of participation.

4 Terms similar to online participation include, among others, online engagement, electronic advocacy, e-campaigning, digital campaigning, social media activism, e-activism, digital activism, cyberactivism, Internet activism, web activism and online activism. A clear-cut and incontestable definition is difficult to reach for any of these. In this text we use 'participation' and 'engagement' interchangeably.

5 In a like manner, the answering options for the question on traditional forms of participation in the World Values Survey include signing a petition, joining in boycotts, attending lawful demonstrations, joining unofficial strikes, occupying buildings or factories, damaging things like breaking windows, removing roads sings, etc., and using personal violence like fighting with other demonstrators or the police.

6 The borders between on- and offline activism are, however, quickly dissolving. Changing one’s Facebook profile picture to support a cause may, for example, be considered as an online version of 'carrying a campaign badge or sticker'.

7 Moreover, in addition to Facebook, other platforms such as Instagram, have implemented features resembling Facebook likes and shares.

8 According to counter-argument Facebook liking can be compared to applauding in a concert or nodding acceptingly in a work meeting. A moment’s reflection soon reveals that this is a weak argument.

9 We have not been able to find systematic and detailed surveys, which focus on the use of these two Facebook social buttons for civic and political activism.

10 In his effort to 'legitimize clicktivism' Max Halupka, for example, (2018) defines it is a political act situated online. For him clicktivism is characteristically an impulsive and non-committal gesture which does not draw upon specialized knowledge; it is an easily replicated action perpetrated by an individual, and it engages a political object.

11 Due to commercial reasons, reliable statistics are hard to find. According to one source, however, users generated 4 million Facebook likes every minute. (Smit 2019).

12 The exact wording of the question was: 'Mark in the table if you have, during the last 12 months, used these applications for social or political action (e.g., posted, commented or liked videos or images in FB, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat etc.). If you have used other applications, add them to the table!.