Case Study

1. Area investigating:
I will be exploring the impact of new/digital media on social networking sites and democracy.

2. The reason why I have chosen this area is because the development of technology has given people globally the freedom to express their views on a specific issues, without being restricted. Thus this establishes that the development of new/digital has made individuals citizen journalists, as some citizens have challenged the government's ideologies though using Facebook or Twitter to spread their message across to others. Significantly, this contrasts to previous years as without the emergence of new media individuals would not have been given the opportunity to challenge the heirachy. However, this is not the case in every society, as some countries do not have access to the social networking sites and others dictators have strict policies on the internet. It could be suggested that this shows that the emergence of social networking has not entirely led to democracy, as some societies are currently under strict policing.

Articles:

• http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/10/debate-flares-over-impact-of-social-media-on-arab-spring-and-other-revolutions/
• http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=57426
• http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/facebook-and-twitter-key-to-arab-spring-uprisings-report
• http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/09/so-was-facebook-responsible-for-the-arab-spring-after-all/244314/
• http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/china/internet_censorship/
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10329989/China-to-lift-Twitter-Facebook-bans-in-free-trade-zone.html
• http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/video/2012/jul/24/arab-spring-internet-activate
• http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/25/twitter-facebook-uprisings-arab-libya
• http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/04/economist-explains-how-china-censors-internet

3. Primary Sources:

• Arab Spring : Democracy in countries associated with the Arab Spring which would not have happened without the emergence of the internet. The Facebook revolution first occurred in Tunisia where citizens used social networking sites to generate awareness of the corruption in society and challenge the power of the hierarchy. Under the regime of Ben Ali Tunisia was not a democratic society as citizens were not given an equal opportunity to express their views and therefore they had to conform to the governments ideologies. However, through Facebook citizens were able to challenge the dominant ideologies through posting up messages and forming an activist group. As a result, people captured footage of the protest and publically posted them online. This generated an unstoppable awareness which encouraged more people to challenge the power of the regime and therefore causing copycat demonstrations in other countries. It is clear that Facebook has helped citizens to live in democratic society by gathering millions of people online to challenge policies of their dictator. 

• China's censorship on social networking sites: China has the highest population of internet users compared to any nation, however the government banned citizens to use social media. This is because, the government believes that online social interaction threatens the state and therefore he banned banned all western sites. The Chinese government has two main ways of controlling what citizens can see on the internet: The Great Firewall which is system of limiting access to foregine websites and the Golden Sheild which is a system for surveillance set up in 1988. China can block instant messages, users who search for banned keywords are blocked from Google  for 90-seconds. This establishes that that impact of social networking sites has not led to democracy in some countries, as China's strict online censorship makes it difficult to fulfill citizens goal to live in a equal society

• Facebook: The emergence of social networking sites has empowered the audience in giving them the opportunity to freely express their opinions and generate their own media text. It is clear that Facebook has benefited citizens around the world in helping them change their country to a democratic society. The fact that users can post pictures, videos and messages online for everyone to see highlights that they are active produces as well as consumers. 

Theories:

Pluralism: According to Pluralists, the emergence of new media shows that individuals are no longer passive users of media texts, but are active producers as well. This is because, citizens associated with the Arab Spring used the social media to challenge the hegemonic ideologies of their government and therefore this led to a revolution. The fact that there is no hierarchy on the internet increases democratisation in society, as individuals have the freedom to express their views on specific issues. As a result, this has empowered the audience as they are actively generating content about the corruption occurring in society. Forms of media such as blogs, forums, global information and social networking sites has increased self-expression. As Pluralists argue that people are now living in a classless society, as society has become fragmented through the emergence of technology and therefore there is no predominant ideology. 

Marxism: The fact that some countries still have a strict censorship over the internet highlights that the ruling class still have power over the consumers and therefore maintaining the social divide. This reinforces the idea that the bourgeois maintains their power over the proletariat by social networking sites, as it may threaten the government's position. As a result, this shows that the impact of new/digital media on social networking sites and democracy is unlikely to occur in certain countries due to the strict internet policing.

Katz and Blulmer Uses and Gratification theory: As Tunisia was the first country to be associated with the Arab Spring, citizens uploaded videos of the conflict occurring in society which was significant for other countries to watch the corruption. It could be suggested that the audience were likely to use social networking sites for surveillance when regarding this issues, as though Facebook people received latest information and videos. As a result, this led to copy-cat demostrations in other countries which would not have occurred without the emergence of social networking sites, as citizens would not have seen the conflict happening in Tunisia.