RRace/Ethnicity and Social MediaEarly notions around the Internet were to create a digital utopian society absent of race; however, race and ethnicity are ever present in online com-munities, and in particular within social media. Since social media centers around interactivity and the exchange of information, the interests, and the identification of its users have become integral parts of engagement. With more than half of Internet users employing some type of social media, preference and practices differ between racial and ethnic groups. Race and ethnicity in social media is a rapidly growing field, looking at how specific groups utilize, choose, and appro-priate social networking sites (SNS). Currently, Facebook is the dominating social media in the United States, but Twitter and Myspace have the most diverse users.
While Twitter is the second-largest social media employed, Myspace is considered a dwin-dling SNS; nonetheless, both provide a platform where an aggregate articulation of voices can interact online. Pinterest, Instagram, and Tum-blr are noted as additional popular social media applications, but there are other social network-ing sites that garner millions of users that repre-sent an array of racial and ethnic groupings such
as online forums, blogs, YouTube, virtual gaming, and virtual social worlds.
Social media engagement in politics, entertain-ment, and issues concerning specific groups has seen a surge of activity by nonwhites, establish-ing even more variety of online information and exchange. For instance, the 2008 presidential elections witnessed an increase in communities of color exercising various social media platforms to engage in political discourse, and the presence of black, Latino, and Asian bloggers is becoming more visible in the blogosphere. Whereas sites like Myspace saw a departure of white users, other racial and ethnic groups continue to use the site to articulate complex and overlapping interests that include identity and group belonging. At the same time, Myspace still serves as a vehicle to network through music via a diverse cultural exchange. Furthermore, blacks, Asians, Native Americans, and Latinos use social media to stay current on issues in their neighborhoods more than whites. In sum, social networking illuminates a burgeon-ing diversity.
Identity, self-presentation, and mobilization are salient themes in race/ethnicity discourse around social media. The United States is comprised of a large white population and principally oper-ates from a white hegemonic cultural, political, and economic thrust. Although nonwhite popu-lations outnumber whites when combined, and
Hispanics alone come close to being the most populous racial group, these groups are con-structed and approached as minorities in every major institution. Social media allow racial and ethnic groups to establish an online identity pre-scribed by them; they also furnish a space where groups can connect and mobilize interests in ways that were previously difficult, especially for mar-ginalized populations. Through social media, racial and ethnic groups have an opportunity to initiate agency while cultivating community and connecting with group members within relevant cultural frameworks.
African AmericansWith more than half of black Internet users visit-ing a social media site at least once a day, Afri-can Americans are shifting the media landscape. Although African American households are less likely to own a computer or have Internet access at home, and possess fewer chances in accessing public broadband sites in their communities as compared to whites, their active participation on SNSs contributes to complicating ideas around online agency, accepted forms of communica-tion, civic engagement, and public presentation. Blacks tend to use Twitter more than any other racial group. Research suggests that Twitter is a popular medium for African Americans because of its user-friendly and mobile-friendly capabili-ties. Twitter does not need access to the Internet to work; it is accessed via a phone with a text messaging function. On a cell phone, Twitter messages are designed in a style similar to that of texting.
Also, African American Twitter users favor entertainment and celebrity news, and often engage in public discourse with notable figures. In some ways, the practice of being involved in public discourse regarding famous personalities generates a status that appears intertwined with celebrity lifestyle; in other ways, it appears to position members of a marginalized group within a circle of power brokers. Additionally, African American interests are situated within national and sometimes international dialogue through the use of hashtags. Currently, African Ameri-can topics are ranked as some of the top issues, obligating users to notice the critical interests and aspects of cultural perspectives in the black
community. Twitter use by African Americans has opened public discourse and a growing acceptance around the usage of African American communi-cation and language. There has been an increase of cultural rhetoric found in the oral traditions of African Americans in Twitter text. Also, there are frequent occurrences of text that defies estab-lished grammar and vocabulary rules that is seen in African American communication, and is now captured in Twitter posts; it is being adopted into general communication habits.
Self-presentation centers black participation in social media. On sites such as Facebook, there are high volumes of self-portraits and pictures docu-menting the everyday life of black users. In the case of Instagram, an SNS that is employed by African Americans more than any other group, the picture presents the personal profile. Photo-graphic agency is an important method to con-nect to friends and to establish an image that is user-generated, rather than a mainstream media representation. Belonging and community are recurring themes illustrated among black social media users. A study by Bun Lee showed that African American college students who had Face-book accounts mainly interacted with other Afri-can American friends, with a greater emphasis on staying connected to family and associates than meeting new friends, promoting a business, or using it as a source of entertainment. In addition, blacks use online forums catering to their issues and interests, specifically around being black. In terms of black bloggers, they disproportionately focus on political issues, along with an emphasis on encouraging racial group members to mimic their online civic engagement offline. However, relationships are the most popular topic for black online forums, followed by a focus on iden-tity, heritage, politics, religion/spirituality, and women, all subsets of collective acceptance and community building.
Black SNS users have carved out a niche com-munity on YouTube focusing on aesthetics, in par-ticular, cosmetics and hair care. Black YouTube communities design cultural and relevant topics around the unique composition of skin and tex-tured hair, especially around grooming hair that is not chemically processed. Tutorials and vid-eos that cater to various aspects of beauty from the perspective of black people, especially black
women, has led to the creation of an alternative forum addressing issues that mainstream fashion and beauty overlook, and that African American communities are attempting to resolve.
Perhaps the biggest misperception of black social media participants is the assumption that black people are a monolithic group. Although African Americans are the largest group of the black demographic in the United States, ethnic assemblages use social media to carve out alter-native customized black identities. Black ethnic identity in the United States is an oft-ignored facet of black social media users that can explain how online identities overlap and sometimes clash. For instance, the Cape Verdean community employs Myspace to create online communities that are focused on connecting other Cape Verdeans within discourse around identity, especially in a hegemonic culture that clumps them into African American and Latino racial categories.
Hispanics/LatinosHispanics use social media more than any other group, and have started to close the gap in the digital divide by becoming increasingly engaged in social media. The average Latino using social media is between the ages of 18 and 29, English-dominant but bilingual, has some college experi-ence or more, and was born in the United States. Though their participation shows visible genera-tional gaps, Latinos use social media to integrate into American society while preserving ethnic heritage and establishing a distinct voice recog-nizing multiple ethnic groups. Microblogging and blogging are avenues that give voice to a popula-tion that exist in physical mass, but still push for more media visibility, political power, and agency. The celebration of heritage is a critical aspect of Hispanic people. At the same time, employing tools that strengthen the voices of Hispanics is important. Latinos are the second-largest users
African American girls at Holmes Elementary School in Liberty City, Miami, work with a laptop computer in January 2012. While there are lower rates of computer ownership and home Internet access for African American households as compared to whites, African American Internet users are extremely active on social networking sites, with over half using such sites once a day or more.
of traditional online blogs, and edge out blacks and whites in Tumblr, a hybrid genre of blogging. Tumblr is a social media site allowing users to share all forms of content, thus making available a platform where the exchange of information is multitextured and provides different layers of experience and understanding.
Blogs provide an arena to articulate the vari-ous perspectives of Latinos and serve as an exten-sion of Hispanic-centered news. English-speaking or bilingual Hispanics learn more by blogging or following blogs, and Hispanic bloggers are likely to focus on issues of immigration more than any other group. Additionally, blogging is a social media that captures the nuances of ethnicity in Latino culture. For example, black Latinos or Afro-Latinos dialogue around race, identity, and discrimination in their homeland and host coun-try. These forums concentrate on the experiences of black Hispanics in South America while mak-ing efforts in fill the gap of Afro-Latino history by sharing historical and current information regarding African countries of which members are descendants. Activist and 2008 vice-presiden-tial candidate Rosa Clemente frequently examines her black Puerto Rican identity through blogging. The blogs provide discourse, looking at how indi-viduals can obtain multiple group memberships, but it also gives outsiders a purview into ignored populations in the United States.
Hispanics are the second-largest users of Twit-ter and Instagram, and are more likely to use Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook for individual recreational purposes. However, political activism and awareness is intertwined in their daily lives; therefore, these SNSs are used to mobilize around critical community health problems and politi-cal issues. Unlike African Americans, most Lati-nos are connected to other countries; therefore, they participate in transnational engagements through social media that help maintain fam-ily ties and friendships across borders. Spanish-language media play a critical role in the lives of Latinos; however, the young Hispanic population in the United States is beginning to rely on wire-less devices for Internet, radio, film, and television content. Consequently, traditional media such as magazines, print news, radio, and television make use of interactive sites to establish a multimedia platform, plus recruit and retain consumers.
Asian AmericansUnlike other minority groups, Asian Americans have the highest adaptation of technology and have gained entry into the digital world. Since a significant number of Asian immigrants migrate from countries with sophisticated technology infrastructures, most already participate in an SNS that is indigenous to their country and meets the needs of staying connected to language, cul-ture, and the people. Asian Americans are the most active in daily social networking, and spend more time on Facebook than the average Ameri-can. A number of members of this demographic belong to another SNS similar to Facebook that is from their homeland; nonetheless, Asian Ameri-can females are recorded as spending the most time on Facebook. While the self-presentation of other ethnic groups like Indians and Latinos tend to highlight their faces on profile pages, southeast Asians and east Asians who live in the United States de-emphasize their features and present limited or reserved emotional expressions.
Also, Asian Americans have been identified as visiting and spending more time than any other group on YouTube. Efforts to obtain celebrity-like status are best seen in musical performances. YouTube is also used as a site where east Asian communities around beauty are explored, espe-cially in the area of cosmetics, fashion, and cos-metic surgery. On the other hand, Indian women use YouTube for hair care; much like African American women, it is SNS fusing ethnic-specific information around body imaging.
Navigating and negotiating identity and belonging in the United States is one of the main topics of online forums for Asian migrants. These niche SNSs are used as support systems. Indian diasporas create virtual communities that operate like online families, providing kinship and rein-forcement. Also, there are numerous social media support groups for Korean and Chinese wives who migrate with their spouses to new terrain, and work through daily life challenges of cultural and language barriers. However, there are seg-ments of the Asian American population that do not fit into the template of tech fitness. Overall, the heterogeneous demographic is homogenized in America, making negotiation even more diffi-cult, but at the same time validating the necessity of social media.
Native AmericansNative Americans are among one of the last demographics in the United States to garner Internet access, yet native nations work for inclu-sion in the digital world and actively engage in social media by using it as a tool to strengthen tribal community, preserve and disseminate First Nation cultures, and ultimately develop native nations. Social networking activity among Native Americans focuses on tribal communication, community engagement, and the ability to main-tain inter- and intra-tribal connections. Addition-ally, social media is used to provide Native Ameri-can representation to mainstream America that is both favorable and contemporary. There are over 500 tribes living on sovereign territories that make up a population of three million native people in the United States. On most tribal lands, it is dif-ficult and costly to acquire access to broadband, resulting in less than 10 percent of the population accessing the Internet.
Since the beginning of the new millennium, there have been concerted efforts to build a tribal-centric technology infrastructure. Once the Inter-net was put into place, Native Americans imme-diately became engaged in the digital world and social media. Native Americans blog, podcast, and employ social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, but most usage is seen on radio-streaming and video sharing.
Tribal Web sites are used to keep Native Amer-icans informed of tribe-specific activities, festi-vals, trade shows, and Native American news. They operate as social network portals, serving as a resource and site to gather and exchange information. These sites are used to disseminate information such as event postings and coverage, job announcements, and health and safety advi-sories. Some tribal sites blog, podcast, or provide music streaming, though it is not common. There are only two online radio stations that provide radio streaming on an interactive platform, but they have limited broadcasting capabilities. Also, Facebook is an avenue used by tribal councils and Native American organizations. Pages that have been established by various tribes connect members and supporters around current news and issues. In addition, Facebook is used as a site to announce political activities and advocate for the protection of native peoples and their lands.
The native gaming industry also galvanizes Indian casino owners through its Facebook organiza-tional pages, while individual casinos advertise to non-natives about casino activities such as con-certs and gaming promotions.
Video-sharing and radio streaming have been the most salient social media used by First Nation communities. Over half of Native American Inter-net users watch videos on video-sharing sites such as YouTube or Google Share. Streaming music is used as a way to exchange music while edu-cating and preserving native cultures that are in some cases vulnerable to becoming extinct. Rez-Kast is a popular video-sharing media known as the Native YouTube. On one hand, traditional music and cultural videos are shared; while on the other, modern images, music, and videos provide outside communities representations of current native peoples in efforts to minimize an American hegemonic imagination that depicts Native Amer-ican people in outdated and racist frames. Native Americans use YouTube as a format to provide alternative depictions of native people. Often, there is a focus on traditional images of Native Americans in tribal clothes and participating in traditional ceremonies; however, the use of You-Tube puts Native Americans in a contemporary setting, and allows YouTube users to engage in discourse around current issues that are impor-tant to tribal nations.
Kaia ShiversRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
See Also: Diaspora/Migration; Identity Politics; Immigration; Social Media, Adoption of.
Further ReadingsAhn, June. “Digital Divides and Social Network Sites:
Which Students Participate in Social Media?” Journal of Educational Computing Research, v.45/2 (2011).
Brock, André. “From the Blackhand Side: Twitter as a Cultural Conversation.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, v.56/4 (2012).
Graziano, Teresa. “The Tunisian Diaspora: Between ‘Digital Riots’ and Web Activism.” Social Science Information, v.51/4 (2012).
Hargittai, Eszter and Eden Litt. “The Tweet Smell of Celebrity Success: Explaining Variation in Twitter
Adoption Among a Diverse Group of Young Adults.” New Media & Society, v.13/5 (2011).
Lee, E. Bun. “Young, Black, and Connected Facebook Usage Among African American College Students.” Journal of Black Studies, v.43/3 (2012).
Pennington-Gray, Lori, Kiki Kaplanidou, and Ashley Schroeder. “Drivers of Social Media Use Among African Americans in the Event of a Crisis.” Natural Hazards, v.66/1 (2013).
Radical Decentralization
In keeping with its roots in pluralism, radical decentralization is not defined by a single histori-cal moment, political movement, or author. Fre-quently linked to different, often incompatible aspects of current political, social, and technolog-ical context, radical decentralization has been put to use by a remarkably broad spectrum of move-ments and theories. From leftist political organi-zations in South America and the Occupy Move-ment to charter school reform and the Tea Party, and even extending into business and marketing strategies, there are few contemporary move-ments that fail to make reference to the notion of decentralized, community-based strategies of organization. As a political term, decentraliza-tion is most often understood in opposition to the standardization and hierarchical organization that has been increasingly associated with multi-national corporations and the global market. All of the recent uses of decentralization are rooted in the new ecology of social media and its poten-tial to replace such top-down political and social structures with a mass-based local framework.
MoveOn is one of the most important contem-porary illustrations of this integration of politics and social media into an effective decentralized collectivity based on the widening latitude of technological communication. In an operational statement (“The Way We Work”) credited to cofounder Wes Boyd, MoveOn claims that it is an “experiment in radical decentralization.” As a key tenet of its organizational model, decentraliza-tion extends to every part of MoveOn’s process,
encompassing the social, political, and business dimensions of its operations. The “radical” ele-ment of decentralization in this model expresses the extension of this concept into every aspect of the organization, rather than a claim to radical social critique that has characterized earlier left-ist movements, from Marxian to anarchist and agrarian collectives. This willingness to integrate business models and work within a state-oriented politics (as opposed to models based on social rev-olution) is one of the reasons for the wide appeal of MoveOn and its ability to use social media to integrate members from across the United States for concentrated and delimited projects aiming to shift state policy.
In The MoveOn Effect (2012), David Karpf calls MoveOn a “networked hybrid of organiza-tional practices” that uses a variety of Internet-based strategies to bring disparate and nonpartici-patory citizens into effective political movements. The decentralized structure of MoveOn keeps its operational costs low, allowing participants who rarely donate to larger, more centralized political organizations to become involved through small, sporadic donations. The consistency between these fundraising practices and MoveOn’s Inter-net outreach has brought radical decentraliza-tion to the fore as a key concept in discussions of political policy and activism. As a hybrid network, MoveOn exemplifies one of the most potent aspects of media-based politics because it illustrates some of the most effective strategies for changing the criteria of participation while multi-plying avenues for self-empowerment.
Beyond MoveOnThe concept of radical decentralization has roots in Euro-American culture, extending back to a period before MoveOn and what Victoria Carty has called “cyberactivism.” The broader context of MoveOn’s commitment to decentralization comes out of series of debates in the late 20th cen-tury by influential social theorists such as Jurgen Habermas, Chantal Mouffe, and Ernesto Laclau. These debates centered on the role of the social sphere, in contrast to the political or private spheres. Various elements of radical decentraliza-tion come into play in these discussions as part of a larger set of strategies concerned with the waning of “communicative action.” As Habermas argues,
