Online and Mobilized Students: The Use of Facebook in the Chilean Student Protests

Cabalín-Quijada, Cristian Online and Mobilized Students: The Use of Facebook in the Chilean Student Protests. Comunicar, 2014, vol. 22, n. 43, pp. 25-33. [Journal article (Paginated)]

[img] Text
c4302en.pdf - Published version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike.
Download (242kB)
[img] Text
c4302es.pdf - Published version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike.
Download (240kB)

English abstract

Considering the relationship between new social media and youth political actions, the purpose of this article is to describe the use of Facebook during the 2011 Chilean student movement, through a content and textual analysis of Facebook’s page of the Student Federation of the University of Chile (FECH). In 2011, Chile experienced massive mobilizations for seven months. These were perhaps the most important social protests in Chile's recent history, where young people played a leading role in the discussion over education. During these events, Facebook was one of the digital social networks most widely used by the mobilized organizations. In FECH’s case, it utilized Facebook mainly to call for protest actions, to highlight the achievements of the movement, and to indicate their opponents. However, most of the content published on this Facebook page was produced by traditional media, demonstrating that conventional communication strategies of social movements are interrelated with new innovative practices. Therefore, this article rejects technological determinism, because it does not recognize the complex characteristics of student and youth movements.

Spanish abstract

Considerando la relación entre los nuevos medios digitales y la acción política de los jóvenes, el objetivo de este artículo es describir el uso de Facebook durante el movimiento estudiantil chileno de 2011, a través de un análisis de contenido y textual de la página de Facebook de la Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile (FECH). En 2011, Chile experimentó una serie de movilizaciones, quizás las más importantes de su historia reciente, donde los jóvenes fueron los protagonistas de la discusión sobre la educación. Durante estas manifestaciones, Facebook fue una de las redes sociales en Internet más utilizadas por las organizaciones participantes. En el caso de la FECH, esta agrupación estudiantil usó Facebook principalmente para convocar a las acciones de protestas, para resaltar los logros del movimiento y para señalar quiénes eran sus adversarios. Sin embargo, la mayor parte del contenido publicado fue generado por los medios de comunicación tradicionales, demostrando que en el nivel comunicacional también se entrelazan las estrategias usuales de los movimientos sociales con las nuevas prácticas más innovadoras. Por lo tanto, se rechaza la visión del determinismo tecnológico, porque no da cuenta de los fenómenos complejos que caracterizan el desarrollo de los movimientos estudiantiles y juveniles.

Item type: Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords: Student movement, Facebook, social networks, Internet, protests, students, education
Subjects: C. Users, literacy and reading.
Depositing user: Alex Ruiz
Date deposited: 02 Jul 2014 12:18
Last modified: 02 Oct 2014 12:32
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/23376

References

Arriagada, A., Scherman, A., Barrera, A. & Pardo, J. (2011). La generación movilizada. Qué Pasa (http://goo.gl/ncBaCy) (13-11-2013).

Bellei, C. & Cabalin, C. (2013). Chilean Student Movements: Sustained Struggle to Transform a Market-oriented Educational System. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 15(2), 108-123.

Benford, R.D. & Snow, D.A. (2000). Framing Processes and Social Movements. An Overview and Assessment. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 611-639. (DOI: 10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.611). http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.611

Buckingham, D. & Rodríguez, C. (2013). Aprendiendo sobre el poder y la ciudadanía en un mundo virtual. Comunicar, 40, 49-58. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C40-2013-02-05). http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C40-2013-02-05

Cabalin, C. (2011). La democracia de los estudiantes. Perfil. (http://goo.gl/twtvxB) (15-02-2014).

Cabalin, C. (2014). The Conservative Response to the 2011 Chilean Student Movement: Neoliberal Education and Media. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2013.871233). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2013.871233

Castells, M. (2012). Networks of Outrage and Hope. Social Movements in the Internet Age. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.

Coleman, E.G. (2010). Ethnographic Approaches to Digital Media. Annual Review of Anthropology, 39, 487-498. (DOI: 10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.10494). http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.10494

Comaroff, J. & Comaroff, J. (2005). Children and Youth in a Global Era: Reflections on Youth. From the Past to the Postcolony. In A. Honwana & F. De Boeck (Eds.), Makers & Breakers: Children and Youth in Postcolonial Africa. (pp. 19-30). Trenton, NJ & Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press.

Condeza, A.R. (2009). Las estrategias de comunicación utilizadas por los adolescentes. Cuadernos de Información, 24, 67-78. (DOI: 10.7764/cdi.0.35). http://dx.doi.org/10.7764/cdi.0.35

Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing Discourse. Textual Analysis for Social Research. New York: Routledge.

Farrer, J. (2007). Networked and not Inhibited: Asian Youth Culture in a Globalizing World. Global Asia, 2 (1), 102-110.

Figueroa, F. (2013). Llegamos para quedarnos. Crónicas de la revuelta estudiantil. Santiago: LOM Ediciones.

Fuchs, C. (2012). Some reflections on Manuel Castells’ book networks of outrage and hope. Social movements in the internet age. Triple C, 10 (2), 775-797.

Gerbaudo, P. (2012). Tweets and the Streets. Social Media and Contemporary Activism. London: Pluto Press.

Gladwell, M. (2010). Small Change: Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted. New Yorker. (http://goo.gl/ikIFec) (13-11-2013).

Hernández-Merayo, E., Robles-Vílchez, M.C. & Martínez-Rodríguez, J.B. (2013). Jóvenes interactivos y culturas cívicas: Sentido educativo, mediático y político del 15M. Comunicar, 40, 59-67. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C40-2013-02-06). http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C40-2013-02-06

Herrera, L. (2012). Youth and Citizenship in the Digital Age: A View from Egypt. Harvard Educational Review, 82(3), 333-352.

Howard, P.N. & Parks, M.R. (2012). Social Media and Political Change: Capacity, Constraint, and Consequence. Journal of Communication, 62 (2), 359-362. (DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01626.x). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01626.x

Jackson, G. (2013). El país que soñamos. Santiago: Debate.

Jeffrey, C. (2010). Timepass: Youth, Class, and the Politics of Waiting in India. Palo Alto: Stanford Uinversity Press.

Krippendorff, K.H. (2013). Content Analysis: An introduction to its Methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Lafi Youmans, W. & York, J.C. (2012). Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements. Journal of Communication, 62 (2), 315-329. (DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01636.x).http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01636.x

McCarthy, C. (2011). Afterword. The Unmaking of Education in the Age of Globalization, Neoliberalism, and Information. In M.A. Peters & E. Bulut (Eds.), Cognitive Capitalism, Education and Digital Labor. (pp. 301-321). New York: Peter Lang.

Murthy, D. (2008). Digital Ethnography: An Examination of the Use of New Technologies for Social Research. Sociology, 42 (5), 837-855. (DOI: 10.1177/0038038508094565). http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038038508094565

Scherman, A., Arriagada, A. & Valenzuela, S. (2013). La protesta en la era de las redes sociales: El caso chileno. En A. Arriagada & P. Navia (Eds.), Intermedios. Medios de comunicación y democracia en Chile. (pp. 179-197). Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Diego Portales.

Squires, C.R. (2011). Bursting the Bubble: A Case Study of Counter-framing in the Editorial Pages. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 28 (1), 30-49. (DOI:10.1080/15295036.2010.544613). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2010.544613

Stewart, C.J., Smith, C.A. & Denton, R.E. (1994). Persuasion and Social Movements (3rd ed.). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.

Tapscott, D. (2009). Grown Up Digital. How the Net Generation is Changing your World. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Thompson, K. (1998). Moral Panics. New York: Routledge.

Valdivia, A.N. (2010). Latina/os in the Media. Malden, MA: Polity Press.

Valenzuela, S. (2013). Unpacking the Use of Social Media for Protest Behavior: The Roles of Information, Opinion Expression, and Activism. American Behavioral Scientist, 57 (7), 920-942. (DOI: 10.1177/0002764213479375). http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764213479375

Valenzuela, S., Arriagada, A. & Scherman, A. (2012). The Social Media Basis of Youth Protest Behavior: The Case of Chile. Journal of Communication, 62 (2), 299-314. (DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01635.x). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01635.x

Xenos, M. & Moy, P. (2007). Direct and Differential Effects of the Internet on Political and Civic Engagement. Journal of Communication, 57 (4), 704-718. (DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00364.x). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00364.x


Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item
Altmetric
Contact us
Send email Sponsors
Sponsor: AIMS Sponsor: D&P Sponsor: UniNa CAB Get connected
Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Linkedin LinkedIn RSS RSS