加拿大媒体essay：社会媒体如何使民间社会活动家在竞选活动中拥有更大的权力

导读：本文是一篇媒体学的加拿大essay，内容主要是说在社会媒体时代，社会媒体在制作和传播信息以帮助公民社会活动家在选举战中有更好的发言权方面具有优势，它提供了动员选民的网络能力，打破了沉默的螺旋，有助于选民公平参与公共事务。

到2016年年底，因特网用户的全球数字将超过3万亿，社会媒体用户将超过2万亿，社会媒体已成为因特网发展的一个新趋势，成为更多和更多内陆国家生活的一个整体部分（Hong and Kim，2016）。近年来，恐怖主义在世界各地的政治选举、社会动态、恐怖主义问题中的影响显著（Nulty，Theocharis，Popa，Parnet and Benoit，2014）。这篇论文是从讨论的权利、调动的能力和沉默的螺旋，从三个角度探讨社会媒体如何使民间社会运动在选举运动中获得更多的权力。

By the end of 2016, the global number of Internet users will exceed 3 billion, the social media users will more than 2 billion, social media has become a new trend of development of the Internet and an integral part of life of more and more netizens (Hong and Kim, 2016). Its far-reaching influence is highlighted in the political elections, social movements, problems of terrorism in countries around the world in recent years (Nulty, Theocharis, Popa, Parnet and Benoit, 2014). This essay is from discourse right, ability of mobilization and the spiral of silence, these three angles to explore how social media enables civil society campaigners to have more power in election campaigns.

2.0 Body主体

2.1 More right of discourse更多的讨论权

在过去的政治选举过程中，辩论权往往受到传统媒体的控制，选举人需要投资大量的资金通过传统媒体进行宣传，而选民只能通过传统媒体被动接受信息（Knoche，2016）。社会媒体的出现改变了传统媒体生产和传播信息的垄断性，使民间社会运动在选举运动中更具说服力。例如，2011年9月，美国的“占领华尔街”运动在运动的早期几天，美国的传统主宰媒体，例如报纸、无线电、电视报道和报道都不是客观的。然而，创始人“Adbusters”杂志的脸书、微博和其他社会媒体平台是协调平台，以便通过网络动员起来，从而使被占领的运动跨越国家。

In the past, in political electoral process, the discourse right is often controlled by traditional media, electors need to invest a lot of money to advertise through traditional media, and voters have to only passively accept information through traditional media (Knoche, 2016). The emergence of social media to a large extent changes the monopoly of the production and dissemination of information by traditional media to bring civil society campaigners more discourse right in election campaigns. For example, the "occupation of Wall Street" campaign broke out in the US in September 2011, in the early days of the campaign, few American traditional mainstream media, such as newspapers, radio, television reported it and the reports were not objective. However, the initiator "Adbusters" magazine took Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms as the coordination platform to mobilize throughout the network to so that the occupy movement spread across the country. 

2.2 High efficiency of mobilizing the public 调动公众的高效率

Mobilization of social elections in the past was conducted along a vertical top-down social ladder, it is a typical mode of domination of elite and passive participation of ordinary people. Today it is launched by opinion leaders, volunteers of the lower end of the social ladder respond, lead and social media proliferates the mobilization (Kim and Chen, 2016). For example, in the election in 2008, Obama first chose mobilization through the network as the primary electioneering means. This model has attracted strong interest of people to participate in the election, 80% of Obama's campaign funds was from online donation of "small donors" (Hong and Nadler, 2012). Another example happened in 2013, climate change protest demonstration occurred in Australia (Hance, 2013). The protest rally was not mobilized by political parties, factions, interest groups, but launched by common opinion leaders, extensive grassroots participation forced the Australian government to have to re-examine their policies on climate change (Borges, 2015).

2.3 Facilitating fair expression of views through breaking the spiral of silence 

Social media can help civil society campaigners to get more information sources and transmission routes in political electoral process, it can also contribute to the public’s more equitable expression of their views (DeNardis and Hackl, 2015).

Social media makes more Internet users no longer be negative "audience" of traditional media, but participants with operational capacity and the ability to take the initiative to disseminate information. The popularity of smartphones, panel computers and wireless networks make everyone become a "citizen reporter", breaking the information control by "professionals, so that sources of information are more diverse, anonymity of speaking through the Internet also allows the pressure of public opinion through the network to be reduced to form a positive "common space" of statement. Citizen reporters can not only produce mass content of information, but also carry out concerted action, so appeal can quickly spread to friends outside of the circle to lead to a spillover effect, causing lots of public attention (Huberty, 2015).

For example, in June 2013, a corporal named Hong Zhongqiu was dead after solitary confinement in Taiwan, the Taiwan society strongly questioned his death and launched a protest activity of 25 million people on August 3, 2013 (Cole, 2013). In the past, confidential things in army are usually not easily known and commented by the public, public opinion on military affairs are controlled by traditional media and the elite. In the era of social media, the public has more opportunity and means to break the spiral of silence to be equitably, actively involved in decision-making and implementation of social affairs.

3.0 Conclusion 

In the era of social media, social media advantages in producing and disseminating information to help civil society campaigners to have a better right to speak in the battle of election, it provides network capacity to mobilize electorate and breaks the spiral of silence to contribute to fair participation of electorate in public affairs.

 

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