Instagram and Political Education for Net Generation in Indonesia

Study on the Usage of Instagram for Political Education in Palembang City

Mariatul Qibtiyah

and Alva Beriansyah

Political Science Program, UIN Raden Fatah, Palembang, Indonesia

Keywords: political Education, Net Generation, Social Media, Instagram, Indonesia.

Abstract: Net Generation is an important part of the democratisation of this nation. Aside from being the next generation

of the nation's leadership, the sizeable population cannot be ignored in today's democratic party events.

Generations born in the digital age more often access and utilise technology and internet than the previous

generations. The Net Generation is not only technologically literate but also politically literate, and they are

willing to participate in political life and so they should get access to political education. By using a descriptive

qualitative research method, this article has tried to analyse the political education obtained by the Net

Generation of Palembang City through social media, focused on Instagram. Beginner voter behaviour

generally tends to be rational and has the ability to access various media in order to obtain information. With

different characters, the Net Generation can easily get their political education through social media, with one

of them being through Instagram. The political education that can be obtained by the Net Generation through

Instagram can be political information, viral political news, the introduction of political figures and there can

also be a reduction in the attitude of political apathy. The Net Generation can therefore become an active

political participant.

1 INTRODUCTION

The development of the internet as a new media (the

second media age) marks a new period in which

interactive technology and network communication,

especially the virtual world, will change the

community and society. The presence of the

accessible internet, even just through smartphones,

has opened up new trends in socialisation patterns. In

general, many young people are more familiar with

this new internet-based medium because they are

born as digital residents (digital natives) compared to

their parents (digital immigrants). The time spent by

the net generation (term for the younger generation of

internet users) is more widely used on Twitter,

Facebook, Instagram, Path, Youtube, Google and

others than using traditional mass media. Even the

intensity of the time used to watch television has

began to decline, while the time spent on social media

has continued to increase. This trend will bring in

tremendous consequences. Internet users will

increase rapidly in line with the increasingly cheap

communications technology and the increasing

welfare of people in various countries.

In Indonesia, until early 2014, internet users have

been recorded as standing at 65 million. There are

51.6 million Facebook users. Twitter has reached 31

million accounts. The city of Jakarta is known as The

Social Media Capital of The World, and has become

the world's number one city with the most tweets,

followed by other major cities in the world such as

Tokyo, London, New York and Sao Paolo. The city

of Bandung occupies the 6th place. For Instagram

use, Indonesia is the largest community using social

media in the Asia-Pacific. Instagram had 45 million

active users every month in the first quarter of 2017

in Indonesia. This makes Indonesia one of the largest

Instagram markets in the world, which now has 700

million active users globally. Indonesian users are

among those that utilise Instagram’s Story content in

the world since the feature was launched a few

months ago. Indonesian users also enter into the top

five countries that most often use Instagram as a

business account, along with the United States,

Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom.

The use of Instagram as one of the most

commonly accessed social media by the net

generation makes Instagram a medium used to gain

Qibtiyah, M. and Beriansyah, A.

Instagram and Political Education for Net Generation in Indonesia.

DOI: 10.5220/0008819102050210

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs (ICoCSPA 2018), pages 205-210

ISBN: 978-989-758-393-3

205

access to information, including political

information. For the net generation, politics is

considered to be too formal, and even some refuse to

participate or to talk about politics. Instagram can be

an alternative when providing education for the net

generation, by prompting them to speak up against

political activity. It can also be an open channel for

direct feedback between the government and youths.

Social media provides the flexibility to discuss

politics and other public issues because the users can

'meet' at any time and anywhere virtually. Research

has reported on the effects of a strong community

network and not a weak one, and state that it will

provide an association between online and offline

political participation.

The tendency of the net generation to use social

media can be utilised by related parties such as the

government, political figures and even political

parties to encourage them to interact with political

social media such as campaigning, introducing the

vision and mission of certain political figures,

submitting government programs and so on.

According to Rusadi Kantaprawira (2004: p.55),

political education is intended to increase the

knowledge of the listeners so then they participate

optimally in the political system. According to the

sovereignty of the people and of democracy, the

people must be able to carry out the task of

participation. Social media is seen of as a medium

that is easily accessible and cheap compared to

conventional media. Moreover, most users of social

media are of the net generation¸ as a group of novice

voters who need information in order to prompt their

own interest in politics as the successor of the nation's

leadership. With the existence of social media such as

Instagram, the net generation is able to get

information so then they are no longer apathetic to the

condition of the nation.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

One of the most dynamic cyberspace communities are

those where the actors are active in building

interactions and utilising networking in cyberspace.

This is often a group of urban teenagers, commonly

referred to as the net generation. The Net generation

is growing in the context of the acceleration of the

rapid development of indent technology. According

to William Strauss and Neil Howe in reference to

generation theory (Generation Theory), to date there

are five generations: the baby boomer generation

(born 1946-1964), generation X (born 1965-1980),

generation Y (born 1981-1994), Z generation (born

1995-2010) and the alpha generation (born in 2011-

2025). Generation Z is also called the iGeneration,

Generation Net or the Generation of the Internet that

is born from generation X and generation Y. The net

generation is a generation born and raised in the

digital era with a variety of complete and

sophisticated technology available to them, such as

computers / laptops, smartphones, the internet and

other electronic devices. Since childhood, they have

known (maybe even been introduced to) and become

familiar with a variety of sophisticated gadgets, either

directly or indirectly which then affects the

development of their behaviour and personality.

Don Tapscot, a digital media expert, has been

conducting research in several countries. He put

forward the characteristics of the net generation or Z

generation. They are a growing global generation

with access to the internet and social media.

Compared to the previous generation, they are

smarter, faster and more tolerant of diversity. In

everyday life, they need time to update their status,

and they need time for Assassin’s Creed. They blend

work, play and social interactions and often still live

at home. All work is done through smartphone

technology. They instinctively master smartphone

technology without needing to read the manual. They

prefer communications through the internet rather

than through the telephone, because with the internet,

they can multi-task. For them, smartphone

technology is like air and cannot be separated from

everyday life. They are also very concerned with the

environment and pay attention to issues of justice,

society and politics. They also like to volunteer. The

net generation has shaped new values, such as respect

for freedom, wanting customisation and being aware

of everything that happens in society. They, through

social media, also build relationships and collaborate

with fellow Net generation individuals. Nevertheless,

they have the character of upholding integrity, and

wanting to have fun during school and working. For

those with technology, speed is a normal thing, and

innovations are a fact of life.

Research on what individuals learn from political

communication shows that one's interest in a

particular topic will make a difference. W. Russell

Neuman, Marion Just and Andd Crigler found that

individuals who use technology will have better

information about the issues they care about

accessible in their daily lives. They are also able to

learn more about issues that they already know about.

Those interested in a particular topic will study the

topic and have a balanced cognition, more so than

those who are smarter but not interested in learning

about the topic. The purpose of political education for

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the younger generation has been set forth in the

Presidential Instruction No. 12 Year 1982 on Political

Education for Young Generations, which states that

‘the purpose of political education is to provide

guidance to the younger generations of Indonesia in

order to raise awareness of the life of the nation and

the state’. While the other political education goal is

to create a young generation in Indonesia who are

aware of the life of the nation and the state based on

Pancasila. The 1945 constitution is one effort to build

a complete Indonesian man. Political knowledge

makes the study of the communication process move

one step forward, especially in terms of the

individual's active role in understanding political

messages.

3 METHODS

This research was descriptive and qualitative, where

the research had the purpose of analysing the political

education obtained by the net generation through

social media (Instagram). Besides that, this research

also aims to know the interests of the net generation

as beginner political voters. The research study was

conducted in Palembang City with the focus of the

research being on the net generation located in

Palembang City. This is because the number of

residents of Palembang City in the age classification

of 15-24 years, amounted to 312,284. This is the

highest percentage of the population compared to the

other age classifications in Palembang City. The

number of respondents sampled in this study was 147.

4 DISCUSSION

The current social system has changed radically since

the development of information technology that has

enabled the convergence of media platforms, as well

as the convergence of mass, interpersonal and group

channels through contemporary social media. Social

media can be defined as "a way to transmit or share

information with a broad audience, while social

networking is at the heart of engagement” (Hartshorn,

2010). For social media, all it takes is an internet

connection as a tool for sending messages. In social

networks, the users must be intertwined in groups and

connected with those who share similar interests, and

engage in two-way communication with

conversations and discussions at the core of the

fabric. Based on the research conducted by APJII

2016 on the behaviour of internet users in Indonesia,

97.4% of Indonesian people use social media. This

figure is considered to be higher than the access to

public services used by netizens in the internet world.

Figure 1: Type of Internet Accessible Content.

Source: APJII 2016

Based on the data, it can also be seen that internet

users who fall into the category of net generation are

the most common type of internet user than internet

users in other age ranges. This shows that the net

generation is an active user that has great potential

when accessing information via the internet or virtual

worlds

Figure 2: Internet Users in Indonesia by Age.

Source: APJII 2016

According to the research conducted by APJII, as

many as 80% of internet users in general are young

people aged 25-29 years and aged 15-19 years old,

with the percentage being 64%. [7] As for Instagram

users in Indonesia, according to international research

institute Taylor Nelson Sofres Indonesia, the majority

of Instagram users in Indonesia are young people (by

89%). Young people are mobile-first users with good

financial abilities and who often have a Bachelor's

degree. Based on TNS research, 59% of Instagram

live users are 18-24 years old, 30% are 25-34 years

old, and the rest are 34-44 years old. [8] Instagram

users who are between the ages of 18-24 years are

Instagram and Political Education for Net Generation in Indonesia

207

commonly referred to as the Z generation (born 1995-

2010) or as the iGeneration. Generation Net or the

Generation of the Internet born from either generation

X and generation Y.

Figure 3: Frequently visited Entertainment News and

Entertainment content.

Source: APJII 2016

APJII research results in 2016 showed that the

behaviour of internet users in Indonesia concerning

those who access political news content is lower than

that accessing foreign news, which was only about

11%. This shows that, in general, the people of

Indonesia consider politics to be less desirable,

especially among the net generation. Based on the

results of a survey conducted by the Centre for

Strategic and International Studies, the results show

that the millennial generation or net generation is like

sports more than politics. This shows that the net

generation has a disinterest in politics and regards

politics as something that is too formal for them.

The disinterest of the net generation in the

political content of the internet world is not without

cause. The lack of political education has caused

some negative stereotypes about politics, which is the

main reason for such disenchantment. According to

Hutchinson, political awareness can be divided into 5

categories. First, is someone who is politically

illiterate. They do not read or follow any news or

political issues, either through the media or in the

general environment. Secondly, there is the so-called

misinformed, i.e. those who have emotionally

bonded, charismatic personality movements or

personalities. They are often dogmatic about their

view of the loss of objective debate. People in this

category will usually claim to vote but often do not.

Third, is referred to as General. Fourth, is the Activist

- someone who has a good understanding of the issues

in the sense of being able to read the details of each

side and who has worked on at least one election.

Fifth, the expert is someone who understands the

language of diplomacy and who can formulate

strategies with institutions and community

organisations. They always participate as voters in

every election

Figure 4: The Most Interesting Activities Net Generation

Interest.

Source: csis.or.id

Social media has a new media position when it

comes to contributing to political education. Social

networking media acts as a complement to

conventional media in supporting fund-raising

activities, identifying and motivating active citizens

and it can also be used for internal political

communications. Social media today can be an

alternative force that can offset the mass media

coverage that is not independent. Social media is a

manifestation of the active role of the public in the

flow of information whose users continue to increase

amid the flow of unfeeling media wars (Lupac, 2008;

Golinski, 2012; Perez, 2009; Menou, 2006). Social

media provides a space for every individual,

especially for the net generation, allowing them to

participate in the consumption, production and

distribution of ideas, knowledge and culture (Lim

2013). Based on the results of the research, the net

generation has the ability to express ideas in the form

of symbols, signs, symbols and images in various

ways. The net generation’s level of participation is

very low in relation to political issues. Most

informants claim to have received messages about

politics, but they only read it and do not comment.

Only a few feel that they have participated through

Instagram. Furthermore, some of them follow

political information accounts even though most of

them follow more general information accounts in

turn. In addition to political information accounts, the

informants also followed several accounts belonging

to political figures, state institutions and political

parties in order to obtain political information about

what is going on. However, most of them are passive,

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meaning that the net generation only acts as a passive

user that reads the info updated and even "likes" it but

does not go further. At least this shows that the

process of political education through social media is

effective enough to attract the interest of the net

generation, even though it has not succeeded in

making the net generation an active participant in

politics through social media.

Social media has an enormous influence on life,

including on politics. The presence of political

information on social media has also got sympathy

from the Net Generation, although not all Net

Generation individuals access information containing

political elements. The following data shows that the

Net Generation is still reluctant to seek information

about politics and public issues. Subsequently, the

respondents were asked to rank the most frequently

visited content related to access to obtaining

information about politics, i.e. through general

information accounts, political news, political parties,

political figures, and state institutions.

In this indicator, the net generation does not have

to follow the account, and they are not required to

provide a like or comment. The iGeneration

respondents can directly search and read the post

from the search homepage. This indicates that the

respondents include passive users. The table shows

that the general information account is the most

popular account by next generation to access, which

is 98.55%. This is because the account contains

information of a contemporary nature, including in

which are political issues that are being discussed by

the public. This is followed by the accounts of

political figures, equal to 94.92%. The accounts of

political figure are considered to be motivational and

inspirational by the net generation. This is followed

by state institution accounts by 49.27% and political

news accounts by 45.65%. Only a handful of net

generation respondents read the posts from political

party accounts, at 10.86%. This is due to the lack of

interest from the net generation who assume that the

political party is only for the cadres.

Furthermore, the percentage of net generation for

mem- follow multiple accounts can be seen to be

95.65%; mem-follow general information accounts

(such as @wowfakta, @ infodunia.id,

@indo_psikologi, @detikcom, @hariankompas,

@tribunsumsel, @palembangterkini, and other -

Other); mem- follow political news accounts

amounted to 41.30% (like @ politik.idn, @

politikcrazy.id, @obrolanpolitik, etc.), account for

89.85% of political figures (such as @jokowi

account, @fahrihamzah, @smindrawati, @fadlizon,

@aniesbaswedan, @ridwankamil); 40.57% make up

Indicator

Gender of Respondents

Number of

Respondents

Man

Woman

∑

Reading Postings

1. General

Information

Account

57,97

40,57

98,55

2. Politics News

Account

34,05

11,59

45,65

3. Political Figure

Account

55,07

39,85

94,92

4. Government

Institution

Account

34,05

15,21

49,27

5. Political Parties

Account

9,42

1,44

10,86

1. General

Information

Account

57,97

37,68

95,65

2. Politics News

Account

32,60

8,69

41,30

3. Political Figure

Account

52,89

36,95

89,85

4. Government

Institution

Account

29,71

10,86

40,57

5. Political Parties

Account

7,97

1,44

9,42

Like Postings

1. General

Information

Account

42,75

26,81

69,56

2. Politics News

Account

5,07

0,72

5,79

3. Political Figure

Account

22,46

12,31

34,78

4. Government

Institution

Account

17,39

5,07

27,53

5. Political Parties

Account

2,89

0,72

3,62

Comment of

Postings

1. General

Information

Account

6,52

2,17

8,69

2. Politics News

Account

2,89

3. Political Figure

Account

14,49

1,44

15,94

4. Government

Institution

Account

6,52

0,72

7,24

5. Political Parties

Account

1,44

state institution accounts (such as @dpr_ri, @

official.kpk, @kemenkupr, @ sekretariat.kabinet, @

polri.id and others) and political party accounts make

up 9.42% (such as @pdiperjuangan, @pdemokrat,

@gerindra, @ partai.golkar, @pkb_muda_indonesia,

etc.). This tendency explains that the net generation's

interest in politics is still very low. The ctive

participation of the net generation in mem- follow or

following accounts that convey specific information

about politics is still low. Most of the net generation

mem- follow political party accounts; generally they

are the party cadres or are only interested in

candidates promoted by the party. They do not see the

Instagram and Political Education for Net Generation in Indonesia

209

party's ideological background. The iGeneration

prefers to follow accounts of inspiring political

figures and general information accounts that do not

only provide information about the politics and

activities of the country in isolation.

Through social media, net-enabling socio-

economic attitudes can form. Social media can be

used as a means of political education, especially in

the run up to the 2019 election. The nature of social

media is independent, free and without limit, which

allows the net generation to interact directly in the

political phenomenon that is happening. Massive and

continuous campaigns on social media will also

impact voter behaviour in the upcoming elections.

The net generation can easily interact directly with

the candidates that they are aiming to vote for. Of

course, these interactions can be opinions,

suggestions and even criticism.

Instagram and Facebook are the two most widely

accessed social media platforms - although today,

Instagram is considered to be the most used social

media platform by the net generation. Social media

has the potential to be used to exchange information,

discuss public issues, and participate actively. This is

possible because social media has the following four

characteristics: cheap, fast, non-hierarchical, and with

a wide reach. In the context of political education,

social media helps to reduce the attitude of neutral

political apathy. For the net generation, Instagram is

not a medium of social interaction and for the sharing

of memory, but this social media platform instead has

the role of being a supplier of political information.

As a generation that is always shrouded in turmoil,

social media plays the role of being a means for

political education for the net generation.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results and discussion in this research

study, it can be concluded that the era of digital

development today has given birth to a new

generation that is more technology literate, referred to

as the net generation. These generations often spend

more of their time surfing the internet, including

spending time on social media. One of the social

media platforms favoured by the net generation is

Instagram. The use of Instagram can be utilised as one

of the means of attracting the net interest of the net

generation. It is hoped that the net generation will not

be apathetic to politics anymore.

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