Comparing Intelligence Democratization in Latin America: Argentina, Peru, and Ecuador Cases (2014)
Democratization Through Oligopolies? A Power-Critical Analysis for Social Media
Transcript of Democratization Through Oligopolies? A Power-Critical Analysis for Social Media
Democratization through oligopolies?
A power-critical analysis of social media
Changing Media – Changing Democracy?
Exploring the Democratic Potential of Social Media
Vienna, 7 Nov 2014
RICARD PARRILLA – STEFAN GADRINGER – JOSEF TRAPPEL
Democratization through oligopolies?
A power-critical analysis of social media
1 Introduction. 2 Theoretical framework. 3 Research design. 4 Analysing the deliberative performance of social media. 5 Conclusions
1 Introduction: RQs and hypotheses
Social Media plural and democratic deliberation
STRUCTURE CONDUCT PERFORMANCE
Core research question
To assess how far social media are platforms providing the conditions for a
plural and democratic deliberation of public affairs
Assumption 1: A majority of the norms that affect the conduct and
performance of social media are defined by themselves.
Assumption 2: The discourse in social media is dominated by
established actors, with little participation by actors of
the civil society.
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
1 Introduction: Market structure
Source: Desk Research GfK Austria September 2013; Digitalschmankerl
AUSTRIA 2013 GERMANY 2013 USA 2013
Pop
ula
tio
n 1
00
%
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
* Users in
thousands
1 Introduction: Market structure
AUSTRIA 2014
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
2 Theoretical framework
The way it is regulated What actually happens
Str
uctu
re
Conduct
Perf
orm
ance
Regula
tion
FREEDOM
CONTROL
EQUALITY
FREEDOM
CONTROL
EQUALITY EQUALITY
DELIBERATION
EQUALITY
?
Media for Democracy Monitor (2011)
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
The way it is regulated What actually happens
Str
uctu
re
Conduct
Perf
orm
ance
Regula
tion
?
3 Research design Indicator ‘Supervision & Transparency of Data‘
‘Supervision
& Transparency‘
‘Supervision
& Transparency‘
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
Str
uctu
re
Regula
tion
3 Research design Indicator ‘Supervision & Transparency of Data‘
Regulatory safeguards for the existence of institutionalized
mechanisms to control and inform about core aspects of the social
media system
Accessibility of detailed information about the social media system
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
Str
uctu
re
Regula
tion
3 Research design Indicator ‘Supervision & Transparency of Data‘
Regulatory safeguards
Accessibility of information
-
+ EU-level safeguards and stricter national safeguards
no safeguards
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
Str
uctu
re
Regula
tion
3 Research design Indicator ‘Supervision & Transparency of Data‘
Regulatory safeguards
Accessibility of information
-
+ publicly accessible information
on all core aspects of social media
no publicly accessible information
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
3 Research design Indicator ‘Supervision & Transparency of Data‘
“...in order to effectively guarantee freedom to provide services and legal
certainty for suppliers and recipients of services, such information society
services should in principle be subject to the law of the Member State in
which the service provider is established.”
Directive 2000/31/EC , Preamble (22)
Facebook Ireland Ltd
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
3 Research design.
The way it is regulated What actually happens
Str
uctu
re
Conduct
Perf
orm
ance
Regula
tion
?
‘Pluralism in SM‘ ‘Pluralism in SM‘
‘Diversity of
voices‘
‘Participation
minority groups‘
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
Conduct
Regula
tion
3 Research design Indicator ‘Pluralism in Social Media‘ P
erf
orm
ance
Regulatory safeguards for
establishing/maintaining
pluralism in legislation
Regulatory safeguards for
establishing/maintaining
pluralism in organisational
structure
Diversity of voices
Ways for participation in digital
discourse (minorities)
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
Conduct
Regula
tion
3 Research design Indicator ‘Pluralism in Social Media‘ P
erf
orm
ance
Regulatory safeguards for
establishing/maintaining
pluralism in legislation
Regulatory safeguards for
establishing/maintaining
pluralism in organisational
structure
Diversity of voices
Ways for participation in digital
discourse (minorities) -
+ EU-level safeguards and stricter national safeguards
no safeguards
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
Conduct
Regula
tion
3 Research design Indicator ‘Pluralism in Social Media‘ P
erf
orm
ance
Diversity of voices
Ways for participation in digital
discourse (minorities)
Regulatory safeguards for
establishing/maintaining
pluralism in organisational
structure
Regulatory safeguards for
establishing/maintaining
pluralism in legislation
-
+ Organisation documents contain
Explicit norms;
Standardised procedures for pluralism
No related documents No standardised procedures
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
Conduct
Regula
tion
3 Research design Indicator ‘Pluralism in Social Media‘ P
erf
orm
ance
Diversity of voices
-
+ Majority of content is produced or raised by the public at large
Majority of content origins from professional actors
Regulatory safeguards for
establishing/maintaining
pluralism in organisational
structure
Regulatory safeguards for
establishing/maintaining
pluralism in legislation
Ways for participation in digital
discourse (minorities)
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
Conduct
Regula
tion
3 Research design Indicator ‘Pluralism in Social Media‘ P
erf
orm
ance
Ways for participation in digital
discourse (minorities) -
+ Plenitude of minority groups
related content, participation and interaction
No participation of minority groups in digital discourse
Regulatory safeguards for
establishing/maintaining
pluralism in legislation
Regulatory safeguards for
establishing/maintaining
pluralism in organisational
structure
Diversity of voices
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
4 Analysing the deliberative performance of social media.
Discourse content analysis
Agenda setting traditional media vs. Social Media
Newspapers
TV
Radio
Online
Posted Content SM
Most relevant issues
Most relevant tags
• Similarities
• Differences
• Voices
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
4 Analysing the deliberative performance of social media.
Issue: Austrian Army (Bundesheer);
25 most relevant FB-posts
(3-5 Nov 2014) (multiple linkages possible)
Voices:
Traditional media 14
Political parties 9
Corporations 7
NGO 4
Government Org. 2
City 1
Band (Music) 1
Education 1
User 1
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
4 Analysing the deliberative performance of social media.
Facebook: Tag analysis
50 most relevant tags on Facebook (3-5 Nov 2014): (multiple linkages possible)
Voices: Issue categories:
Traditional media 17 Entertainment 13
Corporations 15 Gossip 11
Person of public interest 9 Society 10
Community 7 Sports 7
Political Parties 3 Advertising 5
Users 3 Politics 2
NGO 1 Technology 2
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)
5 Conclusions
1 Starting point: oligopolies and lack of reliable information. 2 The research design facilitates an analysis of the democratic performance of social media. 3 There is need for assessing how far social media are regulated and how
far they contribute to deliberative discussion.
Democratization through oligopolies? A power-critical analysis of social media PARRILLA - GADRINGER -TRAPPEL (2014)