<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Research on the political role of digital media, including social media, is often based on the assumption that new communication platforms can contribute to new forms of political participation such as taking part in deliberative political debates more actively and exercising the right to vote more often. Most of the studies focus on national processes: nationwide political campaigns and general elections. In this paper, we offer a different angle on these issues, focusing on a specific locality, more specifically the activities of a politically themed local Facebook group in a middle-sized town in Hungary. We also apply a digital anthropology approach that enables us to use a hybrid methodology combining online and offline tools in our research design. Results are presented in this paper in a research report format. We are far from a final conclusion about the interplay of social media use and political activity, but hopefully the experiences we share will shed some light on the functioning of these types of online communities.</p>
</abstract>

Research on the political role of digital media, including social media, is often based on the assumption that new communication platforms can contribute to new forms of political participation such as taking part in deliberative political debates more actively and exercising the right to vote more often. Most of the studies focus on national processes: nationwide political campaigns and general elections. In this paper, we offer a different angle on these issues, focusing on a specific locality, more specifically the activities of a politically themed local Facebook group in a middle-sized town in Hungary. We also apply a digital anthropology approach that enables us to use a hybrid methodology combining online and offline tools in our research design. Results are presented in this paper in a research report format. We are far from a final conclusion about the interplay of social media use and political activity, but hopefully the experiences we share will shed some light on the functioning of these types of online communities.

Pécs Chatter. A Digital Anthropological Study on the Impact of a Facebook Group on Local Politics

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Communicatio

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Research on the political role of digital media, including social media, is often based on the assumption that new communication platforms can contribute to...

Pécs Chatter. A Digital Anthropological Study on the Impact of a Facebook Group on Local Politics

Publié en ligne: 13 févr. 2023

Pages: 62 - 75

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/auscom-2022-0005

Mots clés
local politics, social media, case study, online communities

© 2022 Jenő Bódi et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Pécs Chatter. A Digital Anthropological Study on the Impact of a Facebook Group on Local Politics

Publié en ligne: 13 févr. 2023

Pages: 62 - 75

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/auscom-2022-0005

Mots cléslocal politics, social media, case study, online communities

© 2022 Jenő Bódi et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Mots clés
local politics, social media, case study, online communities