Role of Facebook on Society & Culture

1. Description of my Culture & Society: My name is Jasmeen Kaur Sangha and I am the 2nd generation Canadian. My religious background is Sikhism and my place of birth is Montreal, where I lived for about 12 years. After my parents found a better job opportunity in Ontario, we moved here in 2005 and we currently live in Guelph. Despite being Canadian, I am still cultural and try to incorporate culture to my daily lifestyle by not forgetting my roots.

2. An example of the SPECIFIC technology, website, or software app and the incident that you chose: The role that the website Facebook plays in society changed the way we engage with politics (Government). I chose Facebook as the specific technology as an example because Facebook’s impact on the government is so intimidating that 38% of those who use it, are more likely to promote material related to politics or social issues (LEE RAINIE, 2012).

3. How Facebook & Government are related to Culture & Society: This relates to culture and society because the impact that is happening with the use of Facebook on politics is major because as Facebook networking grows so does the youths voting. Firstly, in the 2004 elections, there were less than 1 million U.S. Facebook users. However, within a time frame period of 4 years, over 18 million U.S. Facebook users between the ages of 18-29 were voting. This shows that there was an increase of more than 2 million 18-29 year-old voters than in 2004 (Foster, 2010). Secondly, politics and politicians are more accessible for the society on Facebook. Instead of looking at the TV, newspaper or searching the internet for latest politician news, the members of a society can directly sign on to Facebook and look at the Politicians fan page for the most up-to-date information. Facebook also allows people to communicate with the politicians because the society is able to display their important issues effectively on the wall. Thirdly, the culture of politics has changed by using Facebook because in the past people used to attend political rallies and protests, as opposed to now the culture is to watch everything on Facebook by livestreaming directly from the fan page (Maza, 2012). Fourthly, according to an article from the Guardian, it mentions that political parties who focus on Facebook win. It mentions that rather than wasting time and have “1 million conversations”, it was easier to hire consultants of the world’s first real social media election for online campaigns. By paying for advertising, politicians were able to get the right messages out to the right people at the right time (Elgot, 2015). Therefore, even though Facebook has its positive and negative influences on the culture and society, it is undeniable that they are changing the nature of political engagement (Maza, 2012) and the way society votes nowadays.

4. Why you chose this particular example instead of all the others out there: I chose this particular example to emphasize on how strong the impact of a website has on choosing a nations leader by looking at their online activity on Facebook. As well this goes to show that with the busy lives of the public, it is more convenient for the society to catch-up with the missed speeches online on Facebook than attending rallies in person.

5. Why this is relevant and important to you: This is relevant and important to me because the amount of likes, shares, and comments on Facebook determines what politician is better than the other. I find it interesting how Facebook has so much power that enables people to decide who they will vote for. Therefore, this is important for me because I wanted to see the changes over the years in politics and what types of advantages politicians use to their benefit to get votes.

6. How this would have been done differently if the technology had not existed? If technology had not existed, the way politicians would get votes would be by: • Door to door knocking and speaking with the public. • Sending letters out in the mail addressing understanding to the society’s issues. • Speeches in towns and cultural organizations. • Campaigns • Volunteering with the society and being physically involved in events

7. Bibliography Elgot, J. (2015, 08 28). From relationships to revolutions: seven ways Facebook has changed the world. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/28/from-relationships-to-revolutions-seven-ways-facebook-has-changed-the-world Foster, B. (2010, 07 28). How many users on Facebook? Retrieved from Ben Foster: http://www.benphoster.com/facebook-user-growth-chart-2004-2010/ LEE RAINIE, A. S. (2012, 11 19). Social Media and Political Engagement. Retrieved from Pew Research Center: http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/ Maza, C. (2012, 12 02). How Facebook Changed Politics Forever. Retrieved from MIC: http://mic.com/articles/19998/how-facebook-changed-politics-forever#.3J8g8LxK2