How social media facilitate public participation in the election of a new government: A critical analysis of Twitter discourses in Zimbabwe during the 2013 elections

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research is hinged on three overlapping fields namely, political studies, journalism, and mediastudies and explores how Twitter, a relatively new information and communication technology(established in 2006) was used during a very critical election in Zimbabwe in 2013. Zimbabwe isconsidered oppressive, with a very restricted media, thus the advent of new web-based contentgenerating and sharing technologies, such as Twitter, were seen as critical for public politicalparticipation. This is so because technology optimists argue that new information andcommunication technologies including Twitter, bridge participatory gaps as they present almostanyone, with the right technology, an opportunity to publish their views. Additionally, technologyoptimists argue that new information and communication technologies undercut the role of 'eliteswho would otherwise have dominated discourse during important events such as a nationalelection. Through the emerging networks, technology optimists further argue, users are able tochallenge oppressive governments and establish weak ties, to work towards achieving sharedgoals. Most of the inspiration for such conclusions was drawn from the hope raised in 2009 in Iranand Moldova as well as late 2010 to 2011 when protests in some Middle East and North Africancountries were inappropriately called 'Twitter Revolutions. Technology optimists ascribed somuch power to media by calling the protests 'Twitter Revolutions. This was despite the fact thatnot much empirical evidence was presented to support the supposition that Twitter was used totopple governments.This research uses critical theory to analyse the role played by Twitter in facilitating publicpolitical participation during the 2013 elections in Zimbabwe. Empirical evidence gatheredthrough a systematic collection, archiving and analysis of tweets has shown that the potential roleof social media in facilitating public political participation in Zimbabwe in 2013 was exaggerated.An analysis of the quantitative data has shown that a very small minority, around 10 percent, ofthe participating users, dominated the discourse on Twitter. This is a sign that despite its openness,Twitter has subtle barriers to participation, which result in such asymmetries.Qualitative analysis, through discourse historical analysis, a variant of critical discourse analysis,has shown that Twitter was a site for ideological conflict, which dispelled any attempt to classifythe platform as a new public sphere. The irrational nature of communication on Twitter, togetherwith ideological conflicts showed that Twitter was more of a public space and not public sphere.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University