SOCIAL MEDIA, YOUTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL LOW-RISK ACTIVISM: A CASE STUDY OF SAVESHARKS INDONESIA CAMPAIGN ON TWITTER

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.sidebar##

ASPIRATION Journal Vol.1(2) November 2020
Published Apr 4, 2022
https://doi.org/10.56353/aspiration.v1i2.11
Download
PDF
Statistic
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2020): November Edition of ASPIRATION Journal

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.main##

Hersinta Hersinta
Curtin University, Australia
Adithiyasanti Sofia
Perkumpulan Gerakan Indonesia Diet Kantong Plastik, Indonesia

Abstract

The lack of understanding and awareness on shark’s conservation in Indonesia is still largely found. Evidently, it could be seen from the massive reducing number of shark’s population, irresponsible consumption of shark meat, and constant activities on illegal, unregulated and unreported shark fishing and finning in Indonesia. On the other hand, shark existence is considered critical for sustainability in the marine area. In 2012, Savesharks Indonesia has started an online campaign on Twitter as their effort to raise public awareness of the critical role of sharks’ conservation. However, social media activism has the possibility to lead into ‘slacktivism’, or ‘feel good’ activism; without creating a meaningful impact for the cause. This article is intended to explore the relationship between online environmental activism and its implication toward the cause.  On the first stage, we analyse the Twitter content in 2014 Savesharks campaign – based on Lovejoy & Saxton (2012) framework of communicative functions in Twitter environmental advocacy.  On the second stage, we conduct interviews with informants who represent Savesharks’ campaign audience – to investigate the level of activism that the audience refers to in this campaign. Results indicate that Savesharks Indonesia online activism has reached the action stage where the audience were involved not only in online realm of activism but also in offline forms. However, the online activism of Savesharks Indonesia was reflecting more of a “populist political activism” (Lim, 2013). As such, it is still questionable whether the activism could lead to tangible political actions (e.g. influencing the environmental policies).


 


 

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.details##

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

How to Cite
Hersinta, H., & Sofia, A. (2022). SOCIAL MEDIA, YOUTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL LOW-RISK ACTIVISM: A CASE STUDY OF SAVESHARKS INDONESIA CAMPAIGN ON TWITTER. ASPIRATION Journal, 1(2), 113–136. https://doi.org/10.56353/aspiration.v1i2.11

References

  1. Agustina, A., Dewi, T. T., Soemantri, N. P., Qureshi, N. Y., & Moenanto, G. (2020). Environmental Communication in Indonesian Television News Coverage. Aspiration Jurnal, 1(May), 56–72.
  2. Alam, M. (2020). Reconstructing anti-capitalism as heterodoxa in Indonesia’s youth-led urban environmentalism Twitter account. Geoforum, 114, 151–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.06.005
  3. APJII. (2017). Penetrasi dan Perilaku Pengguna Internet Indonesia. Apjii.
  4. Biggins, D. (2018). GOODBYE, THUNDERCLAP: HOW SOCIAL MEDIA STORMS CLOSED THE POPULAR CROWDSPEAKING PLATFORM. Luminous PR. https://luminouspr.com/goodbye-thunderclap-how-social-media-storms-closed-the-popular-crowdspeaking-platform/
  5. Bruns, A., & Burgess, J. (2012). RESEARCHING NEWS DISCUSSION ON TWITTER: New methodologies. Journalism Studies, 13(5–6), 801–814. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2012.664428
  6. Carew, J. (2015). Online Environmental Activism in South Africa: A Case Study of the #IAM4RHINOS Twitter Campaign. Global Media Journal African Edition, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.5789/8-2-169
  7. Carley, K. M., Malik, M., Landwehr, P. M., Pfeffer, J., & Kowalchuck, M. (2016). Crowd sourcing disaster management: The complex nature of Twitter usage in Padang Indonesia. Safety Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2016.04.002
  8. Castells, M. (2009). Power in the network society. Communication Power.
  9. Conger, C. (2018). What do most sharks eat? Howstuffworks.Com. https://animals.howstuffworks.com/fish/sharks/shark-diet.htm
  10. Crowther, J., Hemmi, A., & Scandrett, E. (2012). Learning environmental justice and adult education in a Scottish community campaign against fish farming. Local Environment. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2011.646970
  11. Dent, F., & Clarke, S. (2015). State of the global market for shark products. FAO Fishereis and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 590., 187.
  12. Fahmi, & Dharmadi. (2013). Review of the Status of Sharks’ Fisheries and Their Conservation Efforts in Indonesia (Issue 16). Directorate for Conservation of Areas and Fish Species Directorate General of Marine, Coastal and Small Islands, Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.
  13. Glenn, C. L. (2015). Activism or “Slacktivism?”: Digital Media and Organizing for Social Change. Communication Teacher, 29(2), 81–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2014.1003310
  14. Guo, C., & Saxton, G. D. (2014). Tweeting Social Change: How Social Media Are Changing Nonprofit Advocacy. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 43(1), 57–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764012471585
  15. Hill, D. T., & Sen, K. (2000). The Internet in Indonesia’s new democracy. Democratization. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510340008403648
  16. Howard, P. N., Savage, S., Saviaga, C. F., Toxtli, C., & Monroy-Hernandez, A. (2016). SOCIAL MEDIA, CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, AND THE SLACKTIVISM HYPOTHESIS: L. Journal of International Affairs, 70(1), 55–73. https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/docview/1855796925/fulltextPDF/C34F412CB7CC4407PQ/1?accountid=8056
  17. Kristofferson, K., White, K., & Peloza, J. (2014). The nature of slacktivism: How the social observability of an initial act of token support affects subsequent prosocial action. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(6), 1149–1166. https://doi.org/10.1086/674137
  18. Kumari, I., & John, S. (2017). Communities for Whale Shark Conservation-A success story from Gujarat, India.
  19. Kurniawan, N. I., & Rye, S. A. (2014). Online environmental activism and Internet use in the Indonesian environmental movement. Information Development, 30(3), 200–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266666913485260
  20. Lim, M. (2013). Many Clicks but Little Sticks: Social Media Activism in Indonesia. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 43(4), 636–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2013.769386
  21. Lovejoy, K., & Saxton, G. D. (2012). Information, Community, and Action: How Nonprofit Organizations Use Social Media. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17(3), 337–353. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01576.x
  22. Lovejoy, K., Waters, R. D., & Saxton, G. D. (2012). Engaging stakeholders through Twitter: How nonprofit organizations are getting more out of 140 characters or less. Public Relations Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.01.005
  23. McCafferty, D. (2011). Activism vs. slacktivism. Communications of the ACM, 54(12), 17–19. https://doi.org/10.1145/2043174.2043182
  24. Morozov, E. (2009). The Brave New World of Slacktivism. Foreignpolicy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/05/19/the-brave-new-world-of-slacktivism/
  25. Nugroho, Y. (2010). NGOs, the internet and sustainable rural development: The case of Indonesia. Information Communication and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691180902992939
  26. Nugroho, Y. (2011). Adoption of the Internet in Rural NGOs in Indonesia - A Study on Internet Appropriation for Rural Sector Reform. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1265513
  27. Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The virtual sphere: The internet as a public sphere. New Media and Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614440222226244
  28. Phethean, C., Tiropanis, T., & Harris, L. (2015, June 28). Assessing the value of social media for organisations: The case for charitable use. Proceedings of the 2015 ACM Web Science Conference. https://doi.org/10.1145/2786451.2786457
  29. Phethean, C., Tiropanis, T., & Harris, L. (2013). Rethinking measurements of social media use by charities: A mixed methods approach. Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM Web Science Conference, WebSci’13, volume, 296–305. https://doi.org/10.1145/2464464.2464497
  30. Pickerill, J. (2001). Environmental Internet Activism in Britain. Peace Review, 13(3), 365–370. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668800120079063
  31. Pickerill, J. (2013). Cyberprotest: Environmental activism online. In Cyberprotest: Environmental activism online.
  32. Purba, J. (2014). One crazy Indonesian and her quest to #SaveSharks. Rappler. https://rappler.com/world/regions/asia-pacific/indonesia/68522-riyanni-djangkaru-save-sharks
  33. Ruppert, J. L. W., Travers, M. J., Smith, L. L., Fortin, M. J., & Meekan, M. G. (2013). Caught in the Middle: Combined Impacts of Shark Removal and Coral Loss on the Fish Communities of Coral Reefs. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0074648
  34. Sofia, A. (2015). Twitter Usage for Social Marketing in Savesharks Campaign. STIKOM LSPR Jakarta.
  35. Zobl, E., & Drüeke, R. (2012). Feminist Media : Participatory Spaces, Networks and Cultural Citizenship. In Feminist Media : Participatory Spaces, Networks and Cultural Citizenship. https://doi.org/10.26530/oapen_627781