Civic Participation and Facebook

A Cross Sectional Survey of Pakistani University Students

Qaisar Khalid Mahmood

& Muhammad Saud

Department of Sociology, International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan

Department of Sociology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: Facebook, youth, civic participation, Pakistan.

Abstract: Regarding the potential of Facebook to bring in positive changes into the civic and political life of the

people, there is disagreement among scholars. Optimists believe that social networking sites (SNSs) have

changed political and social life worldwide (Attia et al., 2011). These sites have influenced political

environments and induced social changes in various countries (Cook, 2010; Marandi et al., 2010; Shaheen,

2008; Guobin, 2010; Smeltzer & Keddy, 2010). Particularly, Facebook has provided new opportunities for

citizens to engage, discuss and debate in the political realm (Crompton, 2008). Facebook has transformed

the socio-political scenario of Pakistan as well. Academics have reported that Pakistani youths use

Facebook for social and political purposes (Mahmood, Zakar & Zakar, 2018; Mahmood, Bhutta, ul Haq,

2018; Mahmood, 2017). This study has examined the relationship between Facebook use and the civic

participation of Pakistani youths. The data was collected from university students studying at the different

universities in Lahore. The results indicated that Pakistani university students participate in various civic

activities. The study also found that the Facebook use of students correlated with their civic participation.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies,

various online social networking tools and services

have been developed. These tools and services

include weblogs, social networking sites, forums and

instant messaging (Johnston et al., 2013). Online

social networks can be defined as virtual

communities that interact and pool resources

through computer-mediated relationships. Most of

the time, this type of network consists of people that

share common interests (Boyd & Ellison, 2008).

Among them, Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are

widely recognised online social networks for all

segments of society and every age group

(Governatori & Iannella, 2011). An online social

network site can be defined as a set of web-based

services that allows individuals to ‘(1) construct a

public or semi-public profile within a bounded

system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom

they share a connection and (3) view and transverse

their list of connections and those made by others

within their system’ (Boyd and Ellison 2008, p.

221).

Civic engagement refers to the efforts by

individuals in addressing social issues, such as

signing a petition, making donations, campaigning

for a social cause and voting. Civic engagement has

many definitions (e.g. Putnam, 2000; Ehrlich, 2000;

Shah et al., 2001; Hay, 2007; Raynes-Goldie &

Walker, 2008). For Putnam, civic engagement is

mainly correlated with the “peoples’ connections

within the life of their communities” (1995b, p.

665). He views civic participation as participation in

community organisations and mutual trust among

the community members (Putnam, 1995; 2000).

Ehrlich (2000) defined civic engagement as a

‘means [of] working either through political or non-

political processes to make a difference in a

community by promoting quality of life in a

community’. Carpini (2004) defines civic

participation as “activities that that address

community concerns through non-governmental or

no electoral means’, such as volunteering or working

in a community project”. Various scholars have

conducted studies to measure civic participation

through SNS use (Zhang et al., 2009; Gil de Zúñiga

et al., 2012; Valenzuela et al., 2009). In this

research, civic participation is regarded as a multi-

Mahmood, Q. and Saud, M.

Civic Participation and Facebook.

DOI: 10.5220/0008816700590065

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs (ICoCSPA 2018), pages 59-65

ISBN: 978-989-758-393-3

faceted construct that embraces a variety of notions

of Internet activism, such as collecting information,

publishing information, having dialogues with

others, coordinating activities and lobbying decision

makers to make changes (Denning, 2000).

Social networking sites such as Facebook make

affordable information dissemination and retrieval

possible. SNSs have provided new opportunities for

citizens to engage, discuss and debate in the political

realm (Crompton, 2008). Consequently, SNSs

have changed political and social life worldwide

(Attia et al., 2011). These sites have influenced

political environments and induced social changes in

various countries (Cook, 2010; Marandi et al., 2010;

Shaheen, 2008; Guobin, 2010; Smeltzer & Keddy,

2010). In USA, SNSs have become a critical factor

in changing the political partisanship and triggering

political activism during elections (Cogburn &

Espinoza-Vasquez, 2011). Particularly, this can be

seen after the success of Barack Obama in the 2008

general elections, when he was titled as ‘The First

Internet President’ (Greengard, 2009). Researchers

thus investigated the tactful use of SNSs in changing

the American political environment. Several

scholars have discussed SNS utilization in 2008’s

American presidential election and they have argued

that the decisiveness of these sites has a part in

Obama’s success (Talbot, 2008).

Likewise as in the USA, several European

countries also have used e-campaigning for their

citizens called e-voting guides, which are a popular

forum offered through public policy and research

institutes to increase voter turnout, which helps the

public to choose the best party or candidate on the

basis of numerous statements (van Dijk, 2013).

Alongside Europe and the USA, the power of SNSs

also could not be ignored in Middle Eastern

countries; there was Twitter use in the political

uprising in Iran (Karagiannopoulos, 2012) and

Facebook use in the overthrowing the dictatorships

in Middle East countries (Attia et al., 2011).

Researchers who advocate the use of SNS in

political participations argue that SNS have been

used for stimulating various political activities in a

wide variety of examples, such as political

information dissemination (Tolbert & Mcneal,

2003), political campaigns (Castells, 2009;

Gueorguieva, 2006; Metzgar & Maruggi, 2009) and

political dialogue and discussions (Chambers, 2003).

Nevertheless, traditional scholarships on voting,

donating money and volunteering for political

campaigns have been considered fundamental for

effective democracy (Putnam, 2000). In recent

times, these conventional acts of political

participation have been seen of as declining (Harris,

Wyn, & Younes, 2010). Recent studies have

provided evidence that SNSs have been used by

political parties and candidates to promote fund-

raising and volunteering efforts, thus strengthening

the democratic process (Cogburn & Espinoza-

Vasquez, 2011; Gueorguieva, 2008). Gueorguieva

(2008) confirmed that SNSs have become a useful

source for the collection of funds and to enhance

voluntary participation. This finding has been

confirmed by the other studies as well (Vitak et al.,

2011).

SNSs have also become an innovative medium

for young people to get themselves involved in the

political process (Stromer-Galley & Foot, 2002).

This is because of their potential in engaging youths

in discussions, debates, and public awareness issues

that young people care about (Rheingold, 2008). For

instance, American youths utilised SNSs for political

purposes during the 2008 elections. In this election,

American young adults used SNSs to learn about the

candidates, to form and join political groups, to

participate in political discussion, and to share

political information with others (Fernandes et al,

2010; Kushin & Yamamoto, 2010; Vitak et al.,

2011). In the 2012 election as well, they made use of

SNSs to promote political material, to encourage

others to vote, to post their thoughts on current

issues, and to follow officials or candidates (Rainie

et al, 2012). Despite the fact that academics have

recognised the importance of Facebook in

perpetuating online civic engagement, some scholars

argue that civic efforts should not be Facebooked or

tweeted (Koch, 2008; Gladwell, 2010).

Likewise in other countries, Facebook has

transformed the socio-political scenario of Pakistan

as well. Academics have reported that Pakistani

youths use Facebook for both social and political

purposes (Mahmood, Zakar & Zakar, 2018;

Mahmood, Bhutta, ul Haq, 2018, Mahmood, 2017,

Ahmad & Sheikh, 2013). Little is known about the

civic use of Facebook among youths, particularly

university students. It is observed that university

students are utilising this platform for raising their

voices on public problems. However, no empirical

evidence is available to support this argument. The

current study is designed to address this research

gap.

2 METHODOLOGY

The study was cross-sectional in nature with the

population being university students studying in

ICoCSPA 2018 - International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs

various universities in Lahore, Pakistan. By opting

for the survey research method, a sample of 1,245

students was surveyed.

In order to measure general Facebook use, two

scales were used. The first scale measured the

intensity of the student’s Facebook use. This scale

was developed by Ellison et al. (2006). The

Facebook Intensity Scale consisted of two self-

reported Facebook behaviours. The first part referred

to amount of daily Facebook use and the total

number of friends on their Facebook profile. For

measuring emotional connectedness and its

integration into the individuals’ daily activities, six

Likert-scale attitudinal items were developed by the

authors. The second scale measured relationship

maintenance behaviours. Relationship maintenance

behaviours refer to “the individuals’ likelihood to

engage in directed communication behaviours that

represent relationship maintenance activities and that

signal attention and investment in one’s contacts on

the system through small but meaningful actions”

(Ellison et al, 2014).

The dependent variable of the study was the civic

participation of the students. ‘The Index of Civic and

Political Engagement’ was developed by Andolina

and their colleagues (2003) to measure civic and

political participation. This scale was used by Gil de

Zúñiga et al. (2012) and Valenzuela et al (2009).

After reviewing the scales and Putnam’s view of

civic participation, the researcher adapted the themes

and constructed a scale to measure the online and

offline civic participation of the Pakistani students.

Online civic participation was assessed through

nine items. In these items, the researchers examined

the various civic participation acts (e.g. updating

status about public problems, uploading videos

related to social issues, commenting on other’s

statuses that deal with social issues etc.) of the

students performed by using Facebook. To assess

the offline civic participation of the students, a scale

was developed for traditional civic behaviour (e.g.

participation in seminars, awareness walks, non-

governmental organisations, fund raising, etc.).

3 FINDINGS

3.1 Online civic participation of the

students

Facebook has been utilised by the students for

spreading information related to social issues and

public problems. They spread information by

posting information, uploading pictures and by

sharing video clips on social issues. This activity is

considered to be a significant indicator of online

civic participation. Pakistani youths have also shared

information about their societal problems. The

majority of the respondents frequently posted text

about public issues and they shared video clips

related to public problems as well. Additionally,

more than two-fifths of the respondents posted

public pictures about social issues on their profile

pages (see Table 1).

Facebook is one of the online platforms that have

become popular among Pakistani students for

sharing their point of views on public issues. Most

of the respondents often discussed various social

problems through Facebook-based social groups.

Besides discussing public problems, Facebook has

tactfully been used for arranging and managing

online campaigns to increase awareness among the

masses about social problems. The findings (Table

1) indicate that the Pakistani youths were also using

the social networking site for inviting people to join

welfare activities, taking part in online campaigns

for awareness and also managing groups which were

created to highlight social issues. On the basis of

these results, it was concluded that the majority of

the Pakistani students were performing their civic

responsibilities through Facebook. In other words,

they had a good level of online civic participation.

Table 1. Online Civic Participation of the Students

Items

f (%)

I post text about public issues on my profile page.

342

(27.5)

316

(25.4)

213

(17.1)

136

(10.9)

238

(19.1)

I post video clips about public issues on my profile page.

254

(20.4)

336

(27.0)

206

(16.5)

192

(15.4)

257

(20.6)

I post pictures about public issues on my profile page.

286

(23.0)

292

(23.5)

206

(16.5)

184

(14.8)

277

(22.2)

I discuss various public issues in Facebook-based online social groups.

265

(21.3)

277

(22.2)

227

(18.2)

183

(14.7)

293

(23.5)

Civic Participation and Facebook

3.2 Offline civic participation of the

students

Despite participating in online civic activities,

university students showed a mixed response toward

offline civic participation. Less than two-fourths of

the respondents participated in fund collection

campaigns in case of emergency situations in the

country. Concerning participating in seminars on

social issues arranged at the campus, almost equal

proportions of the sample replied positively and

negatively. Furthermore, more than two-fourths of

the respondents had never or rarely worked as

volunteers with NGOs working for social causes.

Similarly, a majority of the respondents never or

rarely attended awareness walks organised inside

and outside of the campus. Regarding participation

in public protests and community activities, the

findings indicate similar trends, in that Pakistani

students did not take part in these activities. In view

of these results (Table 2), it was concluded that

Pakistani university students had a low level of

offline civic participation.

Table 2: Offline Civic Participation of the Students

Table 3: Pearson’s r Correlation between Independent Variables and Civic Participation

Variables

Online Civic Participation

Offline Civic

Participation

Demographic

Age

.133

***

.142

***

GPA

.034

.072

Monthly Family Income

.041

.022

I invite people through Facebook to do different social activities.

277

(22.2)

312

(25.1)

197

(15.8)

209

(16.8)

250

(20.1)

I motivate people through Facebook to participate in welfare activities.

244

(19.6)

321

(25.8)

259

(20.8)

186

(14.9)

235

(18.9)

I take part in various online campaigns on the awareness of social issues.

253

(20.3)

334

(26.8)

204

(16.4)

201

(16.1)

253

(20.3)

I share the information of needy people on Facebook.

273

(21.9)

299

(24.0)

233

(18.7)

216

(17.3)

224

(18.0)

I manage Facebook groups where members discuss various social issues.

266

(21.4)

282

(22.7)

246

(19.8)

190

(15.3)

261

(21.0)

f=number of students, %=percentage, A= Always, VO=Very Often, S=Sometimes, R=Rarely, N= Never

Items

f (%)

I participate in campaigns arranged for fund collection in emergencies.

232

(18.6)

242

(19.4)

234

(18.8)

228

(18.3)

309

(24.8)

I participate in seminars at my campus arranged on social issues.

235

(18.9)

259

(20.8)

290

(23.3)

215

(17.3)

246

(19.8)

I volunteer myself for NoGOs works for the social causes.

213

(17.1)

220

(17.7)

273

(21.9)

261

(21.0)

278

(22.3)

I attend different awareness walks inside and outside of campus.

173

(13.9)

261

(21.0)

322

(25.9)

237

(19.0)

252

(20.2)

I motivate colleagues to participate in events on the awareness of social

issues.

224

(18.0)

252

(20.2)

325

(26.1)

228

(18.3)

216

(17.3)

I take part in protests being held on any public or social issue.

180

(14.5)

235

(18.9)

266

(21.4)

255

(20.5)

309

(24.8)

I take part in community activities to solve local problems.

195

(15.7)

232

(18.6)

285

(22.9)

213

(17.1)

320

(25.7)

f=number of students, %=percentage, A= Always, VO=Very Often, S=Sometimes, R=Rarely, N= Never

ICoCSPA 2018 - International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs

Facebook Profile

Number of Facebook Accounts

.031

.010

Duration of Facebook Account

.103

***

.014

Average Time Spent on Facebook in Day

.232

***

.048

Number of Facebook Friends

.187

***

.114

***

Number of Close Friends on Facebook

.148

***

.077

Facebook Use

Facebook Intensity

.459

***

.353

***

Facebook Relationship Maintenance Behaviours

.360

***

.302

***

p<.05,

p<.01,

***

p<.001

3.3 Online civic participation of the

students

The findings (Table 3) illustrate that the age of the

respondents was positively correlated with their

online civic participation (r=.133, p<0.001) and

offline civic participation (r=.142, p<0.001).

Moreover, the academic performance (GPA) of the

students had a positive and significant relationship

with their offline civic participation (r=0.072,

p<.05). However, the correlation coefficient

indicated a weak relationship among the variables.

With reference to their Facebook profile, there

was a significant relationship between the duration

of having had a Facebook account and online civic

participation (r= 0.103, p<0.001), but this had no

significant relationship with the offline civic

participation (r= 0.014, p>0.05) of the students.

Similarly, the average time spent on Facebook in a

day by the students was correlated with online civic

participation (r= 0.232, p<0.001) and had no

relationship with offline civic participation (r=

0.048, p>0.05) of the students. In addition, the

number of Facebook friends that the students had

had a significant relationship with both the online

civic participation (r= 0.187, p<0.001) and offline

civic participation (r= 0.114, p<0.001) of the

students. The number of their actual or close friends

on Facebook was also correlated with the online

civic participation (r= 0.148, p<0.001) and offline

civic participation (r= 0.077, p<0.01) of the students.

Table 3 shows that the Facebook intensity of the

students was significantly correlated with both

online civic participation (r=0.459, p<0.001) and

offline civic participation (r= 0.353, p<0.01).

Moreover, there was a statistically significant

relationship between the Facebook relationship

maintenance behaviours of the students and online

civic participation (r=0.360, p<0.001) as well as

with offline civic participation (r=0.302, p<0.001).

4 CONCLUSIONS

Historically in Pakistan, it is reported that students

have been less involved in political and civic

activities due to certain reasons (Aurangzeb, 2008).

However, they have shown their interest in socio-

political activities in recent years (Mahmood, 2017).

This is due to the proliferation of SNSs in Pakistani

society. The proliferation of SNSs has transformed

the traditional ways of political interaction.

Particularly for Pakistani youths, who are the most

vivid users of SNSs, Facebook use acts as a social

facilitator and enabler for them (Mahmood, Zakar &

Zakar, 2018). This study revealed that they used

Facebook for positive purposes. Taking into account

the findings, it can be concluded that this platform

has become a digital public sphere as young

Pakistani Facebook users are utilising Facebook for

civic purposes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was a part of doctoral research project

submitted by the first author in Institute of Social

and Cultural Studies (ISCS), University of the

Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan for the award of PhD

degree in Sociology.

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