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Presentatie op 6 juni 2012 aan studievereniging Sirius van de Universiteit Twente over de relatie tussen sociale media en de Europese Unie.
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Social media and the European Union:
a solution for a disengaged citizenry?Chris Aalberts
Social media and the EUwww.chrisaalberts.nl
Who am I?
• Researcher and lecturer in political communication
Four books in Dutch:• Veel gekwetter, weinig wol (2011)• U draait en u bent niet eerlijk (2010)• Altijd ver weg? (2008)• Aantrekkelijke politiek? (2006)
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Short quiz
Who are these people?
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Which countries have the Euro?
• Austria• Czech Republic• Estonia• Finland• Hungary• Lithuania• Latvia• Malta• Slovenia• Slovakia• Romania
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Who decides on railway privatisation?
• European Union– The council– European Parliament
• Countries• Regions• Local authorities• Railway companies themselves
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Informed citizenship
• Which decisions are made?• Who made those decisions? • For what reasons?• What were the effects of those decisions?• What were the differences between political
parties?• How do local, regional, national and European
government interact?
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Normative views
• Diverse ideas about the rights and obligations of citizens in modern democracy– Direct democracy– Deliberative democracy– Participative democracy– Informed citizenship
• These ideals are not realistic for a majority of the citizenry
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Everyday life
• Politics does not play an important role• Citizens spend their time on other activities
• Several indicators show this– Political knowledge– Political interest– Political participation
• Normative views are highly theoretical
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Audience democracy
• Citizens perceive a large distance between themselves and politicians
• Citizens are largely inactive, they vote in elections
• Citizens follow politics in the media• Citizens vote for parties they agree with• Citizens vote against governing parties if they
disagree with their policies
• Citizens are the audience of politicians• Empirical approach, not meant to be normative
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Monitorial citizenship
• Citizens are largely uninformed about politics• Citizens will look after their own interests• Citizens are only interested in some political
topics• Other topics are unimportant to them
• Citizens possess an ‘antenna’• Citizens receive signals that something is wrong• In these cases, they can become active
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Metaphor
Social media and the EUwww.chrisaalberts.nl
The European audience
• No political knowledge• No political interest• No political activities
Social media and the EUwww.chrisaalberts.nl
Monitoring Europe
But there is monitorial citizenship in Europe•Two locations of the European Parliament•Referendums on European treaties•ACTA-treaty on intellectual property rights•Situation in Greece
This seems to be unsatifactory
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Five solutions
• More engagement is seen as needed• How can we stimulate this?
• School• Political leadership• Interactive policy making• Traditional media• Social media
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Expectation
• Social media attract citizens to the European Union
Combination of four ideas: • Social media educate citizens, just as schools do• Leaders can show their political leadership• Citizens have more influence through social media• Journalists find interesting stories online
• YouTube: Marietje Schaake
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Education
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
When schools teach about the Europe Union, this leads
to more engagement
Education
• Large budgets for school activities• Industry of school projects on Europe
• Europe is a secondary topic• Not enough time for
national governments
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Education
Misunderstanding about two types of media•Pull medium: demand of the audience is central•Push medium: offer of the medium is central•When citizens do not demand EU information, there will be no education
Social media do not change this
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Leadership
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Stronger leaders tell citizens that Europe
is important
Leadership
• No important European leaders or positions• Creation of the ‘European president’
• Not an important figure for public opinion• An opinionated president would possibly
lead to more resistance against the EU
Social media and the EUwww.chrisaalberts.nl
Leadership
Misunderstanding about political leadership•Politicians become famous through traditional media•Policial leadership is largely based on political views•Many politicians lack clear views on Europe, except some extreme, anti-European examples
Social media do not play a role in both steps
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Citizen influence
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Citizens should have a say in European policies
Citizen influence
• Not many examples• Most important one: the European citizens’
initiative
• Research shows that support is not always the outcome of interactive policy making
• Projects are viable when citizens can have a real influence
• Influence on a European level is unlikely
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Citizen influence
Misunderstanding about citizen influence•Citizens do not become engaged because there are options for conversation, influence, etc. •Emotional issues are needed•Citizens need knowledge about policies and procedures to be effective •They lack this knowledge
Social media cannot change this
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Traditional media
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Media should spend more time on the EU
Traditional media
• EU institutions have large media budgets• Many types of help for journalists
• Journalists follow the citizens’ agenda• As long as Europe is not
part of that agenda…
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Traditional media
Misunderstanding about journalism•Some journalists might be lazy•But audience demand is still essential•Social media could push certain issues•But journalists will still ask themselves about the relevance for their audiences
•Social media cannot change these decisions
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU
Conclusion
Social media do not change social structures•Citizen interest in the EU stays the same•Behavior of politicians stays the same•Journalists still work in identical ways•Citizen influence remains sparse
Social media do not bring anything new•Reproduction of older patterns
www.chrisaalberts.nlSocial media and the EU