Social Networking Sites as a New Public Sphere: Facebook and its Potential to Facilitate Public Opinion as the Function of Public Discourse – A Case Study of the 2008 Obama Campaign

[摘要] In the 17th and 18th centuries the bourgeois public sphere emerged as the conceptual spacebetween the public, with its enclosed institutions and organisations, and the circle of theprivate life. It is within this more or less autonomous space that public discourse took placeand public opinion, as a function of public discourse, was produced. The public sphere wasrealised as a necessary precondition of deliberative democracy where it needed to manifestcommitments to freedom and equality in the communicative interaction between thosepartaking in the deliberative process. Since the 17th and 18th centuries, the public sphere hasundergone various transformations and, even though it is largely argued that the utopianpublic sphere as conceptualised by Habermas does not yet exists, it is regarded as a necessaryprecondition that all democracies should strive towards.Since the 19th century, media has been one of the main intermediary institutions of the publicsphere. Initially, the earlier mass media of press and broadcasting were regarded as adequateand beneficial for the conduct of democratic politics and the facilitation of public opinion inthe public sphere. Information flow was, however, vertical and the heightenedcommercialisation experienced within the media market lead to the neglect of democraticcommunication roles between the public itself and the leaders, institutions and organisations.These forms of mass communication thus limited access and discouraged active politicalparticipation and deliberative dialogue within the public sphere.In the 20th and 21st centuries, new media, especially the internet, have been hailed as apotential way to break away from the vertical information flow and to create new arenas forpublic discourse. One emerging contending form of new media is social networking sites(SNSs). Even though SNSs were not initially developed for political reasons, they have beenutilised by political figures in an attempt to broaden voter reach and to enhance theircampaigns. Amongst the SNSs available on the internet, Facebook has emerged as thelargest, fastest growing and most popular SNS amongst internet users between the ages of 18and 24 in the world. In the past, this age demographic has shown a disinterest in politics andhas thus been recognised as the previously politically disengaged age demographic. Americanpresident Barack Obama realised the potential of Facebook and incorporated it in his newiimedia campaign during the presidential election of 2008. Facebook enabled Obama toexpand his voter reach and communicate with the previously politically unengaged agedemographic. It also enabled him to create an arena where political information regardingthe candidate, campaign and relevant political issues can be provided. This opened acommunication flow between Facebook members and the president. Arenas for publicdiscourse were also established and the potential of Facebook to facilitate public opinion wasrealised.In this study, the question is asked whether Facebook, as a SNS, can be seen as an adequateforum where public discourse takes place and public opinion, as the function of publicdiscourse, is facilitated. This study will therefore aim to explore whether a Facebook, as SNS,can be seen as a public sphere. With the help of a case study of the 2008 Obama campaign,Facebook has shown the potential to allow for public discourse to take place. Thus the notionof Facebook as facilitator of public opinion is supported by this study.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University