From face-to-face to facebook?Social media and collective action

Presentation by Ivar Eimhjellen, Phd.student, Rokkansenteret/UiB

Bergen, May 18th. The voluntary sector in the Nordic Countries. Change agents and contract partners.

From face-to-face to facebook?

Theoretical perspective:

•Social capital: Networks (+ trust, norms of reciprocity)

• Organizations as formalized networks

•Organizations and networks in relation to levels of social capital and collective action

• ICT`s supporting networks and collective action?

From face-to-face to facebook?

Data

Survey: Voluntary organizations in Hordaland (17 municipalities) Data from 1998 and 2009

Regression anlysis Three main research questions / models

Figure 1 Percentage share of organization`s benefits from e-mail and the internet.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Informingmembers/volunteers

Contact w ithnational level

Feedbackfrom

members/volunteers

Contact w ithother

organizatins

Promotingthe

organization

Influencing Member/volunteer

discussions

N (min) = 1485Very useful Fairly useful

STEP 1 STEP 2 Using the

Internet Benefits from the Internet

(variable from factoranalysis, all usevariables)

Debate/discussion (1-8)

Contact outwards (1-

8)

Information distribution (1-

4) Organizational age (log) -.138** -.130*** -.314*** -.166*** -.092*** Membership figure .259*** .029 .029 .080† -.011 Formalization .246*** .096*** .128* .201*** .067** Outwards index -.007 .0004 -.003 .002 -.009* Conflict oriented index -.006 .015** .007 .030** .010† Connected to national level

.491*** .209*** .055 .491*** -.006

Bergen (=1) .414*** .206*** .537*** .151 .276*** Geografic area .106*** .058*** .075** .100*** .046*** Members age composition

Members Under 15 years .440*** .227** .149 .447*** .165* Members 16-30 years .666*** .034 .096 .086 .064 Members 31-50 years .356*** .226*** .430*** .313** .162*** Members 51-66 years .105 .043 .152 .008 .079 Members 67 år and over -.878*** -.329*** -.620*** -.323* -.382*** Homepage .539*** .654*** .992*** .327*** Blog .217 .125 .700* -.014 Facebook (other social media)

.318*** .528*** .460** .157*

Democracy vs. effectiveness (0-10, instrument variabel)

-.043

Constant -1.403*** -1.349*** 2.264*** .467 1.772*** Rho .014 .043 .148 -.088 N=1604

1604 1543 1474 1655

1 † p≤ .10, * p≤ .05, ** p≤ .01, *** p≤ .001

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Use

val

ue

ind

ex, r

eco

ded

0-1

00.

Homepage +Facebook (or

similar)

Homepage Facebook (orsimilar)

Blog Neither

Debate/discussion Contact outw ards Information distribution

Figure 2 Estimated benefits from the internet/e-mail by different webmedia representation.

Model 1 Backgorund variables

Model 2 Internet usage

Model 3 Types of Internet usage

,077 -,058 ,042

Organizational age (log) -,014 ,002 ,013

Members -,001 -,006 -,008

Formalization ,071 ,051 ,061

Outwards index ,010*** ,011*** ,014***

Conflict oriented index -,003*** -,003*** -,003***

Connected to national level

,076*** ,048*** ,037***

Internet usage ,233***

Homepage ,022

Blog ,147

Facebook ,119***

Adjusted R2 ,040 ,065 ,046

N 1892 1892 1456

1 † p≤ .10, * p≤ .05, ** p≤ .01, *** p≤ .001

Table 3: Regession of backgroundvariables, internet usage, different types of usage and the effect on the number of cooperative ties.

STEP 1 STEP 2 Survival Member figure 2009 Exec. commitee meeting

2009 Membership meeting 2009

Other activities 2009

Attributes 1998 Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 Model 1

Model 2

Model 1

Model 2

PC, no internet -.104 .153* .125† .062 .016 -.137 -.159 -.050 -.114 PC and Internett -.009 -.466* -.362† -.079 .183† -.093 .032 -.177 .178 Started using internet after 1998 (0-1)

.214** .329*** .157 .445***

Exec. Committee meeting 1998 (log+1)

.038 -.012 -.025 .451*** .429*** .026 .016

.154* .126*

Membershipmeeting 1998 (log+1)

.039 -.080*** -.079*** -.009 -.006 .345*** .346*** .030 .034

Other activities 1998 (log+1)

.157*** -.023 -.025 .067* .062* .035 .033 .511*** .508***

Organizational age (log)

.092* -.058* -.055* -.026 -.022 .013 .016 -.006 .002

Members 1998 (log) .257*** .827*** .818*** .109*** .103** .013 .012 .067 .064 Formalization .099** .004 .002 .103*** .097** -.004 -.007 .018 .011 Connected to national level.

-.033 -.004 -.011 -.042 -.056 .123 .116 -.190† -.210*

Bergen (=1) -.533*** .150* .136† .107 -.090 .137 .127 .172 .139 Geografic area .026 .010 .002 .003 -.011 -.045 -.052 -.029 -.048 Members agecomposition

Members Under 15 years

-.229* .115 .098 -.092 -.124 -.263* -.279* .065 .019

Members 16-30 years

-.128 .008 .007 .064 .091 -.071 -.073 .027 .021

Members 31-50 years

.097 -.016 -.035 -.063 -.094 -.237** -.252** -.116 -.156†

Members 51-66 years

.003 .035 .034 .010 -.004 .098 .095 -.063 -.072

Members over 67 years

-.016 -.134* -.078 -.109 .030 .069 .106 -.246* -.140

Used the Internet*members

.006 .138** .154**

Democracy vs. effectiveness (instrument variable)

-.008

Constant -

1.589*** 1.115*** 1.049*** .117 .029 .794† .737† .776 .595

Rho -.486 -.477 -.205 -.223 -.059 -.056 .131 .151 N 1192 1192 1192 1329 1329 1329 1329 1329 1329 1 † p≤ .10, * p≤ .05, ** p≤ .01, *** p≤ .001

From face-to-face to facebook?

This study indicates that the Internet and social media:

• Supports face to face contact

• Supports cooperative ties between organizations