Este articulo presenta los resultados de un estudio sobre la utilizacion que hacen los jovenes andaluces de las redes sociales. Los objetivos fundamentales son: conocer los usos preferentes de las redes sociales, su frecuencia y los motivos que les impulsan a su utilizacion. Ademas se estudia si existen diferencias de sexo tanto en la frecuencia como en las motivaciones de uso. Se aplica un cuestionario para la recogida de datos. La muestra es de 1.487 adolescentes de Andalucia. Los resultados muestran que los jovenes en su mayoria usan de manera habitual las redes sociales y se identifican dos vertientes motivacionales en su uso: una social y otra psicologica. No se hallan diferencias significativas entre sexos en cuanto a frecuencia de uso, pero si en las motivaciones para su acceso. Las de los chicos son de tipo emocional, mientras que en las chicas predomina la motivacion de caracter relacional. Los resultados obtenidos muestran coincidencias con investigaciones internacionales realizadas en contextos muy diferentes al presente estudio. En la discusion de resultados se plantean futuras lineas de trabajo, a la vez que se identifican implicaciones que los usos de las redes sociales tienen para la formacion e integracion social de una ciudadania activa y participativa, asi como para el enriquecimiento de dimensiones como el desarrollo del capital social y la educacion.

Juventud y redes sociales: Motivaciones y usos preferentes

Capital social y redes sociales virtuales. Un estudio sobre los tipos de interacción social establecidas entre usuarios de redes sociales virtuales

This article explores how young people construct and express their consumer identities via their consumption styles on social media. The importance of commercial content on social media, such as the postings of social media influencers and advertisers, has been increasing during the past years. Framed by theories on social identity, social comparison and consumer socialization, we analysed focus group discussions with 15 to 19-year-old teenagers in Finland ( N = 35). The results reveal that the participants had a clear understanding of their consumer identities: what kind of consumers they were and what they did not want to be. The consumption styles: luxury brand-oriented, trendy second-hand and sustainable, were heavily affected by social media, particularly by commercial social media influencers. Although our sample of young people was rather small, the results were consistent with other studies, and provided deeper understanding of the important role of commercial social media in young people’s consumption styles. Thereby, the research brings social media more tightly into the process of young consumers’ identity formation. For today’s young people, consumer identity is a major part of social identity which is greatly affected by social media. This is should be acknowledged by commercial actors, educators and consumer policy makers.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/21582440231177030

The Role of Social Media in the Creation of Young People’s Consumer Identities

This research focuses on the perception of South African online activists of intrinsic benefits and limitations associated with social media. The number of social media users has more than doubled in the last decade due to the medium creating an open public space where one can share their opinions and voice with minimal restrictions. Having an open public space with few rules and restrictions proves ideal for online activism with the potential to reach a larger audience. The ability to spread information faster by using social media provides for greater reach and awareness. A qualitative study interrogating social activism in South Africa was undertaken. Responses indicated that the digital divide together with inherent financial limitations inhibited the access to social media activism. These include the high cost of mobile data and ICT devices which limited many groups’ access to digital devices, which in turn limits their capability to participate in social media activism. The findings also demonstrate that South African activists often concentrate more on Western issues than local ones due to the Western platform challenge. There are also typically fewer social media users in locations where poverty is prevalent because of the several financial limitations influencing access to social media and many South African activists found it difficult to infiltrate affected audiences because they weren’t active on social media. These challenges have an impact on social media activism as they restrict its use in South Africa. Additional research can now be conducted to identify solutions for these shortcomings. 

Social Media Activism in South Africa

This article scrutinizes the network of Twitter users on the dissemination of tweets on the Old-Age Guarantee policy in Indonesia. A qualitative method with social media network analysis approach was used. Then, data sources were obtained from Twitter social media through #JHT_JokowiHarusTurun, #jaminanharitua, and #JHT. Furthermore, to manage data source, NVivo 12 plus software was used to analyze qualitative data from Twitter social media – including dissemination rate of tweets, followed by geographical map tweet stream, Twitter user’ network pattern, sentiment proportion, as well as words frequencies. Our results indicate that there are networks found from Twitter users with some account backgrounds in politicians, political parties, governments, online news media, actors and also cultural practitioners who participate in disseminating tweets. Even this network generated the significant distribution patterns and sentiments to a moderately negative value, coupled with pleasantries that are echoed between protests and support by words cloud to this movement. Overall, our research contributes to better understanding of how social media-promoted collective protest movements have the power to impact public opinion and policy and that their evolution is unexpected.

Social Media Network Analysis on Twitter Users Network to the Pension Plan Policy

Background: Digitalization and hyperconnectivity generate spaces for youth participation in social activism through social media platforms. The purpose of this research was to analyze young people’s online experience in social activism movements, including their preferences, themes, usage of language, and perceived impact. Methods: The research is framed within a qualitative interpretative–descriptive paradigm. Five focus groups were conducted, including 58 high school students from Malaga, Spain. Results: Several themes were identified through the coding process, including technological devices and social media preferences, participation in social movements or activism, perception of the degree of participation, the focus of interest, motivation for involvement, language use on social media, and beliefs. Conclusions: In a hyperconnected world, youth participation in social movements becomes more relevant. Their interest is reflected in the enormous potential that this social participation of young people has through networks and virtual platforms, becoming an informal communication model with characteristics to be an effective vehicle for social transformation.

Juan Antonio Torrecilla García

Papers

Activism and Social Media: Youth Participation and Communication