Browsing by Author "Smuts, Lize-Marie"

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    Social Networking Sites as a New Public Sphere: Facebook and its Potential to Facilitate Public Opinion as the Function of Public Discourse – A Case Study of the 2008 Obama Campaign
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010-03) Smuts, Lize-Marie; Gouws, A.; De Beer, A. S.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    In the 17th and 18th centuries the bourgeois public sphere emerged as the conceptual space between the public, with its enclosed institutions and organisations, and the circle of the private life. It is within this more or less autonomous space that public discourse took place and public opinion, as a function of public discourse, was produced. The public sphere was realised as a necessary precondition of deliberative democracy where it needed to manifest commitments to freedom and equality in the communicative interaction between those partaking in the deliberative process. Since the 17th and 18th centuries, the public sphere has undergone various transformations and, even though it is largely argued that the utopian public sphere as conceptualised by Habermas does not yet exists, it is regarded as a necessary precondition that all democracies should strive towards. Since the 19th century, media has been one of the main intermediary institutions of the public sphere. Initially, the earlier mass media of press and broadcasting were regarded as adequate and beneficial for the conduct of democratic politics and the facilitation of public opinion in the public sphere. Information flow was, however, vertical and the heightened commercialisation experienced within the media market lead to the neglect of democratic communication roles between the public itself and the leaders, institutions and organisations. These forms of mass communication thus limited access and discouraged active political participation and deliberative dialogue within the public sphere. In the 20th and 21st centuries, new media, especially the internet, have been hailed as a potential way to break away from the vertical information flow and to create new arenas for public discourse. One emerging contending form of new media is social networking sites (SNSs). Even though SNSs were not initially developed for political reasons, they have been utilised by political figures in an attempt to broaden voter reach and to enhance their campaigns. Amongst the SNSs available on the internet, Facebook has emerged as the largest, fastest growing and most popular SNS amongst internet users between the ages of 18 and 24 in the world. In the past, this age demographic has shown a disinterest in politics and has thus been recognised as the previously politically disengaged age demographic. American president Barack Obama realised the potential of Facebook and incorporated it in his new ii media campaign during the presidential election of 2008. Facebook enabled Obama to expand his voter reach and communicate with the previously politically unengaged age demographic. It also enabled him to create an arena where political information regarding the candidate, campaign and relevant political issues can be provided. This opened a communication flow between Facebook members and the president. Arenas for public discourse were also established and the potential of Facebook to facilitate public opinion was realised. In this study, the question is asked whether Facebook, as a SNS, can be seen as an adequate forum where public discourse takes place and public opinion, as the function of public discourse, is facilitated. This study will therefore aim to explore whether a Facebook, as SNS, can be seen as a public sphere. With the help of a case study of the 2008 Obama campaign, Facebook has shown the potential to allow for public discourse to take place. Thus the notion of Facebook as facilitator of public opinion is supported by this study.