The Internet, Social Media and Socialism
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I have started this thread in the hope that we can examine our relationship with Social Media, and our continued use of and expansion of it.
It has been suggested that the internet removes the need for leaders.
The young people of Britain do not need leaders, and the new wave of activists has no interest in the ideological bureaucracy of the old left. Their energy and creativity is disseminated via networks rather than organisations, and many young people have neither the time nor the inclination to wait for any political party to decide what direction they should take.
Laurie Penny, The Guardian
People are disillusioned with politics, parties and politicians, of that there is no doubt. This situation gets us off to a bad start because we are ‘The Socialist Party’ and the perception will be that we are ‘politicians’. This a disaster and a blight on our movement because we are unique in that we don’t have political leaders and we don’t want people to vote for us, we want them to vote for themselves, for socialism.
Parties on the left have little to gain from publicity, as it is the same old stuff they have to offer. We, on the other hand, have a lot to gain because our message is unique and most people have not heard it.
The direct approach as a political party may well be doomed to failure. To get our message across requires a multitude of various approaches in the use of the internet and social media.
Any ideas?
edit:
Social relations are closely bound up with productive forces. In acquiring new productive forces men change their mode of production; and in changing their mode of production, in changing the way of earning their living, they change all their social relations. The hand-mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill society with the industrial capitalist.
the internet gives you a society without classes or leaders
Perhaps this sums it up.In all honesty I think it's more about us being visible to people that might agree with us rather than trying to endlessly get involved in every online "debate" going..
People have and will continue to join the party because of social media contact and discussion, DJP. Whether we like it or not people will become more and more influenced by social media as opposed to going to a public meeting or reading a leaflet that comes through the door or a newspaper from the corner shop.
Vin wrote:People have and will continue to join the party because of social media contact and discussion, DJP. Whether we like it or not people will become more and more influenced by social media as opposed to going to a public meeting or reading a leaflet that comes through the door or a newspaper from the corner shop.You've misunderstood me.I mean that our approach to the internet and social media should be concerned with what will make us more visible / give us most exposure to people who may already agree with some or all of what we say rather than trying to activly get involved in the infinite amount of endless (and in my opinion low quality) "discussion" that takes place online. It's about what is the most effective use of our limited time and resources.I think the Debunking Handbook that I think I mentioned in another thread is a good source for ideas…http://www.skepticalscience.com/Debunking-Handbook-now-freely-available-download.html
Sorry if I misunderstood, DJP. I agree, its about finding the most effective use of our limited time and resources.
What about advertising on the internet?Or actively promoting party videos?
Why isn't the twiter account World Socialism@worldsocialismbeing used?
I don`t believe social media is anywhere near what it`s vaunted for. The internet might give the impression to some that they now have a voice, at which they lose perspective and shout "hurrah" too soon. Social media to my mind is anti-social, and gives the illusion of being part of something. The reliance of so many on it has in fact to my mind served to neutralise them. One types on a screen and receives so many "likes" etc., and one sees the revolution drawing nearer. Fahrenheit 451 is drawing nearer, yes. Revolution, no.
This is interesting, about the "social media echo chamber" or lack of it:http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/01/online_echo_chambers_a_study_of_250_million_facebook_users_reveals_the_web_isn_t_as_polarized_as_we_thought_.html
I suppose the fact that the 'echo chamber' is a myth makes social media more 'open'. I was thinking of the internet in general rather than 'facebook' in particular. There is also 'twitter'. I know a lot of people think that twitter is a waste of time but, as an example, a party account could be used to tweet a daily 'sound bite' revealing our unique perspective. For example:What is world socialism?The planet earth and its resources are held in common by the whole community and goods and services are produced for free distribution to everyone Bad Politicians?Although some politicians are certainly bad, they are not the main cause of our problems. The main cause is World Capitalism.WarWars are not waged in our interests. Wars are fought over the conflicting interests of sections of the capitalist class. These interests include resources, trade routes etc Discussion related to our case could be started on this forum and shared on our facebook and twitter accounts.
Twitter and Facebook are old hat now. Forums even more so. We sometimes get quite a lot of success from Reddit.com now…
Are we talking about getting the party name recognised or an understanding of socialism?
DJP wrote:Twitter and Facebook are old hat now. Forums even more so.As old hat as the public meeting and leaflet drop?
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