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Generating Social Awareness Through Social Network Sites

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Virtual Communities, Social Networks and Collaboration

Part of the book series: Annals of Information Systems ((AOIS,volume 15))

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Abstract

Generating social awareness suggests the ability to provide information and experiences to people that allows them to acknowledge some form of injustice or inequality. Social awareness has three variations: acquired, awakened and expanded. This study aims to identify whether social network sites and, in this particular case, Facebook are able to act as the vessel that transfers this knowledge to its users around the world, generating social awareness on issues that users were previously unaware of or did not support.

In an attempt to move away from political topics, the example of a social campaign selected was one of cultural heritage – the Greek people’s campaign for the transfer (or repatriation) of the Parthenon Sculptures, currently on exhibit at the British Museum in London, back to the Acropolis of Athens where a new museum for this purpose was completed in 2009.

The online ethnographic approach included observation and content analysis of material from a Facebook Group, Cause and Page in both 2009 and 2011 as well as interviews of members of each of these sites for both time periods. While Greek interviewees were aware of the campaign, the majority of non-Greek interviewees were new to the campaign, their support (or in one case, lack thereof) generated through Facebook. The interviews and content on the sites suggest that two of the three forms of social awareness can be generated through Facebook, while at the same time Facebook maintains the status of a virtual public sphere of access to information and discussion where opinions can be shaped and a forum, its users believe, has the power to mobilize change.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Examples include Rosenbush [53], Delaney et al. [15], and Rosenbush [52].

  2. 2.

    Examples include Jones and Soltren [39], Cain et al. [7], Fogel and Nehmad [29], Taraszow et al. [55], and Wang et al. [56].

  3. 3.

    Examples include Ellison et al. [17], Kleck et al. [40], Zywica [58], and Papacharissi and Mendelson [48].

  4. 4.

    The background provided is an amalgamation of the facts made available to Facebook users on the sites by the site administrators and not the members in order to provide a clear idea of the ­position the sites maintain.

  5. 5.

    Demanding the return of the Parthenon marbles to their rightful place [18].

  6. 6.

     Repatriation of the Parthenon marbles [19].

  7. 7.

     Repatriation of the Pathenon marbles [51] (previously http://apps.facebook.com/causes/14926?m=3f1cca43 [9]).

  8. 8.

    While one can argue that Facebook content is public, out of respect, the comments will not be followed by the full names of those who commented, but just the initials, the same discretion exercised on the interviewees.

  9. 9.

    To see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqC2EMIDec4&feature=player_embedded

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Alessia Cogo at the University of Southampton (previously University of Surrey) who, as my supervisor, supported the research that resulted in the completion of my thesis of which this chapter is an extension.

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  1. Kingston University, London, UK

    Penelopi Alexandrou

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Correspondence to Penelopi Alexandrou .

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  1. Dept. Nursing, University of Peloponnese, Sparta, 231 00, Greece

    Athina A. Lazakidou

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Alexandrou, P. (2012). Generating Social Awareness Through Social Network Sites. In: Lazakidou, A. (eds) Virtual Communities, Social Networks and Collaboration. Annals of Information Systems, vol 15. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3634-8_10

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