The growth of internet usage and the increasing popularity of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have led media commentators and social scientists to consider the possible effects of these tools on people’s political activism and engagement with a range of social issues.
The optimists see the increased use and popularity of online petitions and the way in which some stories rapidly ‘go viral’, reaching millions of people worldwide, as evidence that citizens are more willing to pay attention to, and become involved in, social and political issues. It has been suggested that the digital world allows people to ‘organise without organisations’, and that the internet can lower the traditional barriers to collective action. In other words, the optimists see these features as a positive move for democracy.
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