Facebook helps Gen Y make friends with politics from
Brisbane Time----My thought----
Interesting article, this may face off 'the critic believe' for my gen and the next.
Possibly, it could be used to explain other actions of the Y gen also, like, making friend, learning, marketing, etc.
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Young people are increasingly engaging in the political process through social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook, smashing the myth they don't know or don't care about politics, a Brisbane academic believes.
Queensland University of Technology new media researcher Dr Christine Satchell examined the way young people engage with new digital technology as a part of her PhD thesis, and what she found was surprising.
In among the lists of favourite bands and pictures of friends that make up a MySpace or Facebook profile was an assertion of political awareness.
Generation X and Y are often branded as apathetic when it comes to politics, but the emergence of a very clear engagement could suggest otherwise, Dr Satchell believes.
"It might just be that this generation hasn't previously had the ways and means to engage in the political process," she said.
"Suddenly they have these new tools to express themselves and they are using them quite effectively."
In the lead up to the federal election on November 24, websites including Facebook, MySpace and YouTube have been overrun with political messages from "ordinary users".
And that's what makes the engagement so surprising, Dr Satchell believes.
"It's not your typical political activist - the Arts student who's studying environmental politics or feminist theory.
"It's the web page of your Average Joe, with a very clear political statement right in the middle."
She uses the example of a Facebook "event" listing for the federal election. By RSVPing as "attending", users display their intention to vote in the election.
"It's not even expressive a political affiliation - it's just saying they're going to be voting."
What makes Gen Y and X different from other generations is the way they consume information, she said.
"Unlike previous generations that would just sit there and watch television, this is a generation that is actively involved in creating their own content."
It's known as being a "prosumer" - both a producer and consumer of information. Take YouTube, for example.
"People don't just watch a video of a politician, but they can comment on it, blog about it and share it with other people.
"Better still, they can create their own video and embed it on their MySpace page."
Dr Satchell believes this digital engagement has influence at the highest level, as it allows a large group the means to be politically active with very little effort.
While the increasing popularity of this new awareness online has the potential to become the new "hip" thing, she doesn't think it downgrades its significance.
"It could be seen as quite gratuitous, and there might be people who join the Free Tibet group on Facebook just because their friend did.
"But it makes you wonder if some of this awareness then seeps into that person's consciousness at some point."
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