Social networks: communication and change

Abstract

Virtual social networks have brought about the possibility for open and plural debate, where all those with the necessary literacy skills and means are able to participate in the creation and dissemination of information. By pressing political agents and determining the “agenda” of a lot of the media, users demonstrate that we stand at an ideal platform for creating both real social movements and more or less fleeting events, as manifestos or virtual campaigns. Nonetheless, in order to understand the role of virtual social networks in today’s world, we need to answer some prior questions. Are we facing a new communication model, whereby the product of “disinterested” interactivity creates an aura of confidence in disseminated information, often quite higher that that seen in the “old media”? Will that interactivity be a chance to fight-off citizens’ growing detachment with regard to the “res publica”? Will we find in citizen-made journalism, transmitted through virtual social networks, the consecration of a true fourth power? On the other hand, can we call the distinct collective movements we have seen emerging true “social movements”?

The present article aims to examine this and other issues that come to the fore in the intricate social world of cyberspace.