Dark Side of Social Media

Case study of social media activities of Serbian nationalist group SNP

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Jelena MaksimovićGlocal conference, Skopje 2009

Defying dominant discourse

• Liberal progressive disourse

• Internet as a new public sphere – increased participation of citizens in political life

Facebook President

Ideology of social media

• Rhetoric of democratization – social change, increased power and knowledge

• Web 2.0 amoral (N.Carr)

• Agonistic public sphere (Mouffe)

• Antipublics – using freedom of the Internet, but actively looking to undermine it

Choice of the case study

• Crucial factors• Rise of youth

nationalism• Tabloidisation of

the media• Youth: Increased

usage of social media, not accustomed to traditional media

Facebook wars• Serbia – most Facebook profiles in

Western Balkans area (11,3% of the population)

• Groups:Let Gather More People Then There is in Albania - 95,907

membersCan we gather 50.000 Serbs on Facebook – 97,982 membersLet’s Gather More People Then There is in Montenegro –

115,490 members

Online presence of nationalist groups

• Forums – closed communities of likeminded people

• Social media – openly calling for participation (SNP calls you!)

• Content– blog, Facebook page and group, Twitter, videos on Blip.tv

Textual analysis - blog

• Style- almost professional

design- Content- classic press releases- long articles

attempting at analysis- low interaction

Textual analyis – Facebook page

• Open calls to violence

(Death to gays! ...go back to the EU or your home country Croatia. We are waiting for you)

• Encouraged by administrators

(posting the drawing – Gays into Blenders)

• Increase of number of fans before/after Pride

Aftermath – Clicking away vs. Real Threat

Influence on mainstream media

• Tensions ahead of gay pride – tabloids announcing violence on the streets

• Accountability – arrests/censorshipPhysical ban of a group does not translate into online world – Facebook Anti-Holocaust groups

• Youth involved more with social media, than traditional media

Thank you for the attention.Questions, anyone?

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