Something old, something new, something borrowed and something true: exploring the use of social media

By Tina Vikor

The concept of social media is relatively new to anthropology. Ten years ago, it was observed by anthropologists studying media that the World Wide Web facilitates social networking (Ginsburg, Abu-Lughod and Larkin eds. 2002:70). However, the quick development of web-based social media, and the way these have been integrated into the lives and relationships of people across the globe, is a phenomenon that anthropologists struggle to keep pace with. The anthropological method of studying social media entails a focus on the particular individuals that use them. Instead of studying statistical patterns, anthropologists enquire about the consequences of interacting through social media for ordinary people (Miller 2011:ix). While sociologists and political scientists often focus on the production of media messages, anthropologists emphasize the need to see the production and reception of media messages in relation to each other (Ginsburg, AbuLughod and Larkin eds. 2002:17). What anthropologists however share with many other scholars of media studies is the concern for how media enable or challenge the workings of power and the potential of activism; the enforcement of inequality and the sources of imagination; and the impact of technologies on the production of individual and collective identities (ibid:3). In the following essay I will explore some of the literature and key concepts that can be useful when studying social media, and discuss these in relation to my own participant observation of Muslim activists use of the forums Free-minds and Flashback, blogging, and activism through Facebook. In his study of the use of Facebook, Miller (2011) explores how peoples lives and the relationships they really care about change through the experience of using Facebook. Does Facebook approximate some kind of community? How does it change the way we see ourselves? These are some of the questions Miller poses, and they are highly relevant to the study of other social media as well, especially forums. One of the key concepts in discussions about the impact of media on community has been Benedict Andersons concept of the imagined community (Anderson 1991), whereby he described communities, which as opposed to real communities are not based on everyday face-to-face interaction between its members. Instead of face-to-face interactions, these imagined communities are created and maintained though particular events and mass media. The communities created by social media complicate the distinction presented by Anderson, because although participants on a forum may never meet each other faceto-face, they can be in direct dialogue, and thus their relationship is more

than imagined. At the same time, more and more broadcast media, such as the Swedish national radio P3, are creating social media platforms, by for example allowing comments from readers. Comments from the audience can in turn become a discussion between members of the imagined community. A similar example from earlier times is the broadcasting of letters from the audience, however broadcast channels have had much greater control over these than the comments on their websites, which enable direct exchanges of words among the audience. Thus the technological developments have enabled the actualization of imagined communities. In this way forums can be compared to conferences, where desired contact between people united in purpose is made possible, except that forums enable quick and continuous contact, while they do not provide the face-to-face experience of community. Social media have also made great impact on the opportunities of selfrepresentation. Instead of being represented through the lens of mass media, new technologies have made it possible for laymen to circulate text, images, sound and video in an unprecedented way. A decade ago Harald E. L. Prins observed that web-based media provide individuals and communities with new opportunities to represent themselves on their own terms. Although broadcast media, can also be used for self-representation, as exemplified by indigenous television broadcasting (Ginsburg, Abu-Lughod and Larkin eds. 2002:13), web-based media offer increased access for both producers and recipients of media messages. Anybody with access to and know-how about the World Wide Web can start a website, a blog, a Youtube channel and make themselves visible through their friends on Facebook. Although even in broadcast media the distinction between production and reception of media messages has not been as clear cut due to the influence of an imagined audience in production processes (Ginsburg, Abu-Lughod and Larkin eds. 2002:17), social media complicate the producer-audience relationship even further, as most participants assume both roles. Although some participants in social media may only receive and not produce, like one of my informants that only visited forums to read the discussions, others may mostly write and only rarely read. Most people however, do a lot of both receiving and producing messages, which results in a more decentralized communication, at times even chaotic. However social media are also moderated in one way or another, and thus the communication is not completely decentralized. Social media also offers new opportunities for the promotion of nondominant forms of lifestyle. Similarly to the way indigenous media is used for political purposes of emancipation (Ginsburg, Abu-Lughod and Larkin eds. 2002), Muslim activist use forums, blogs and Facebook to sustain and promote their lifestyle and world-view. Habermas notion of the public sphere, whereby political action is steered is interesting to consider here, because the new technologies underlying social media have enabled new forms of activism and creation of the public. One of my informants described writing a blog as a way to emancipate and educate others about things that are obscured by mainstream media. By automatically publishing

the articles from his blog on Facebook, he reaches out to most of the people on his friend list. By participating in the international Muslim forum Freeminds, another informant described that she kept in contact with other members of the Muslim community and contributed to and kept herself informed through the studies on the forum. Yet another informant, who is very active on one of Swedens largest (non-Muslim) forums Flashback, explained that he wants to educate non-Muslims about Islam, and challenge anti-Muslim sentiment on the forum. The potential for the mobilization of the public in political acts has been made evident through the numerous demonstrations and political changes that have taken place with the help of social media, the so called Arab Spring is one example. My informants have similarly taken part in diverse demonstrations and political petitions that have been announced on Facebook. Social media can also be used to create or recreate intimate relationships, such as keeping contact with friends and relatives, especially those who live far away (Miller 2011:217). Facebook and forums may be used to find new friends and even to find a mate. Two of my informants who got into contact through the forum Free-minds ended up getting married. Although this may be seen as a strictly private matter, according to my informants, finding a proper spouse is part of Muslim activism and an expression of abiding by the rules of the imagined community of Muslims. Another of my informants was acting as match-maker for his two Muslim friends through the chat function of Facebook, which he also described as a form of Muslim activism. While social media may seem to be inherently bent to the purposes of the users, Facebook is a business and users are constantly exposed to advertisements for time and money consuming products. On Facebook there is much more opportunity to engage in games, view products and browse through other peoples profiles, than on the Free-minds forum, where only activities seen as relevant to the purpose of the forum are accepted. Facebook is more closely connected to other channels, which creates both distraction and opportunities for communication. Noncommercial platforms, such as Free-minds, may not be shaped by economic interests, but are nevertheless influenced by the technology and the worldwide forum culture. For example on the Free-minds forum, a person that is only out to sabotage discussions is called a troll, which is a common word used on forums. Although the spread of social media has resulted in the diffusion of concepts and practices, we should not think that this has automatically led to homogenization. Rather, as Miller argues with regard to Facebook, the spread of a social medium is often accompanied by its diversification, as it is put to use in diverse contexts (Miller 2011:x). Also, social media are not always put to use in the way initially intended. In some ways the original use may pertain, for example a lot of people actually keep contact with their collage peers through Facebook, but the majority of people today use it for other purposes. One of my informants does not share her log or pictures on Facebook with the majority of her friends a practice she finds too voyeuristic -, but only uses her profile to gain access to group pages and

forums, while another chooses to make his profile available, because that way he can spread posts from his blog to his friends. Thus users of Facebook do not always share in the public culture promoted by Facebook, but they make strategic choices as to how they want to use the medium. Their actions are of course influenced by the social medium, as some of my informants confessed that when they use Facebook, they unintentionally end up spending a lot of time looking around on friends profiles and logs. Also, messages spread through social media can have unanticipated adverse consequences, such as when misinformation is published and later cited in judicial process (Ginsburg, Abu-Lughod and Larkin eds. 2002:71). As the production of media messages becomes more decentralized, less regulated and often more anonymous, questions of authenticity become a main concern. Of course obscuring ones identity, self-representation, misinformation and sabotage are not new phenomena, but the new social media pose new platforms where questions of authenticity and falsehood are played out.

References: Anderson, Benedict (1991). Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (Revised and extended. ed.). London: Verso. Ginsburg, Faye D., Lila Abu-Lughod och Brian Larkin (eds.) (2002). Media Worlds: Anthropology on New Terrain. Berkeley: University of California Press. Miller, Daniel (2011). Tales from Facebook. Cambridge: Polity Press. Social media: Flashback forum: https://www.flashback.org/index.php Free-minds forum: http://www.free-minds.org/forum/ Lightsflower blog: http://lightsflower.wordpress.com/