Asian of Journal Humanity, Art and Literature; Volume 8, No 1/2021 ISSN 2311-8636 (p); 2312-2021 (e) Study of the Role and Impact of SNS in : The Case of Candlelight Vigil of 2016 in with Data Visualization Using Python

Myung Suh Choi1, Seung Ah Choi2, Jacquelyn Ryu3, Yuli Choi4

ISSN: 2311-8636 (Print) 1,2Monta Vista High School, CA, USA ISSN: 2312-2021 (Online) 3Saratoga High School, CA, USA 4Archbishop Mitty High School, CA, USA

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Source of Support: Nil ABSTRACT No Conflict of Interest: Declared This study explores how social media act as a tool to communicate with the government and the world through the research of the role of social media and the processes by which people can be mobilized to engage in protests. Focusing primarily on Facebook and Instagram as Social Networking Sites (SNS), the study uses survey data collected through Typeform online survey (N=100). Findings indicate that the frequency of SNS has been strongly correlated with activities. SNS promoted on-site news consumption and political speech, which in turn facilitated protest participation. Despite the prevalence of incidental exposure to news on SNS, the exposure did not give rise to more political action, such as the voicing of political opinions on SNS.

Keywords: Social Networking Sites, Candlelight Vigil, South Korea, Data Visualization, Python

INTRODUCTION On 10 March 2017, the South Korean Constitutional Court upheld the decision of the country's parliament to sue President Park Geun-hye for a corruption scandal. This unprecedented political crisis was first exposed in October 2016, followed by a series of million-strong demonstrations calling on President Park to step down. These demonstrations led lawmakers to cast their ballots for the first time in Korean history to condemn the president. It is worth remembering here that SNS seems to have played a key role in this whole process. As Kim Seo-joong, professor of journalism at SungKongHoe University, said "Social media have made it possible for people to take to the streets on an unprecedented scale" (Ock, 2017, para.10). However, very little study has been done on particular methods. This study aims to provide a more detailed understanding of this topic by analyzing the involvement of people in the 2016 South Korean candlelight vigils as a case study.

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Choi et al.: Study of the Role and Impact of SNS in Protests: The Case of Candlelight Vigil of 2016 in South Korea with Data Visualization ………… (19-32)

This research broadens the conceptualization of the processing of social media news. Previous studies have concentrated on the framework for the purposeful (or active) consumption of social media news in the political knowledge acquisition process. The foundation for participation in individual demonstrations (e.g., Valenzuela, 2013; Valenzuela et al., 2012). Instead, this research unpacks SNS’s news consumption operation into both purposeful news consumption and unintentional news exposure. Despite proof that individuals exposed to political knowledge on SNS did not study whether and how this form of news exposure could be linked to purposeful news exposure in the context of protest activities. Studying the context of recent candlelight vigils in South Korea discusses Boulianne (2015)'s significant critique of the literature on the influence of SNS on protest participation. In her latest meta-analysis (Boulianne, 2015), she argues that researchers have used composite indices for protest participation by putting together various forms of political participation, including core protest activities (e.g. street protests and marches) and other types of political participation. Political participation would include volunteering for a political party, attending political debates, signing a petition. This makes it difficult to assess the true impact of SNS on key protest events. Composite indices may have been used in part because prior protest movements consisted of events with undefined beginning and stopping points, making it difficult to reliably quantify core protest activities. Instead the candlelight vigils in South Korea consisted of a series of clandestine protests that took place every Saturday for a certain period of time. As a result, the current research will use the number of protests in which the participant participated as the key outcome variable. By doing so, this study will investigate the influence of SNS's news consumption on real protest rather than political engagement. This study also will lead to a deeper understanding of the role of SNS in engaging in protests. This study focuses primarily on the role of Facebook and Instagram, which have been seen as the key forces behind the recent social movements in mobilizing the social movement. A large population to engage voluntarily in the huge candlelight vigils in South Korea.

POLITICAL SCANDAL The unprecedented controversy that led to the indictment of the President of South Korea revolves around the President's friendship with his long-time friend Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of a South Korean Shamanist cult leader. Even though Ms. Choi did not hold any official government role; she had access to classified government information without security clearance, and had an impact on presidential decision-making. Kim Hyung-Min's hashtag campaign in 2016 brought this issue to the public discourse (Jung, 2016). The suggested hashtag was #WhatAboutChoiSoonSil? SNS users then started posting and disseminating mainstream news stories about the subject through SNS. With this collaborative phase of mass media and SNS, the full picture of the Choi-Park controversy started to emerge. This led to major demonstrations in the form of candlelight vigils.

ROLE OF SNS IN POLITICAL PARTICIPATION The majority of research has suggested that SNS helps to promote political engagement. SNS promotes citizens' participation in protest activities as a distinct form of political participation. Traditional mass media tend either to disregard protest events or to marginalize protest movements by using a "protest model”. To overthrow the protest model

Page 20 Volume 8, No 1/2021 | AJHAL Asian of Journal Humanity, Art and Literature; Volume 8, No 1/2021 ISSN 2311-8636 (p); 2312-2021 (e) traditionally seen in conventional mass media, demonstrators, including activists, frequently shift to SNS to circumvent the media. Traditional media gatekeepers and to establish and disseminate their own messages (Harlow & Johnson, 2011; Reuter & Szakonyi, 2015). During a period of national protest, this kind of activity often takes place. It is becoming more common in SNS and as a consequence, a large amount of protest-related content circulates in SNS. This creates an increasing chance for users to pick up protest-related information Details and can allow users to express their political views (Eltantawy & Wiest, 2011). In this report, we are focusing on the position of Facebook and Instagram which are overwhelmingly the most popular SNS in South Korea. A recent South Korean survey reveals that approximately 16 million of the 51 million people in the South Korean population are active Facebook users (DMC Media, 2015). In addition, 59.8% of SNS users in South Korea used Facebook and Instagram more often than any other SNS. The emphasis on Facebook and Instagram is therefore fitting for this case study in South Korea.

SNS, THE CENTER OF POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE SNS can contribute to protest activity by acting as a political information or news site. Facebook and Instagram users also receive news breaks in real time, which can provoke political debates and encourage participation in protests. SNS users may also access protest- mobilizing information, which is a type of information that is often missing from conventional news media due to principles of neutrality in journalistic practices (Hoffman, 2006). Facebook and Instagram play critical roles as information centers, especially when conventional news media are not trusted. Via outlets such as Facebook and Instagram, the public will easily become aware of the illegality and corruption that may otherwise be hidden in conventional media. Seeing SNS political knowledge is unusual in accessing it on other digital media outlets, such as blogs and social campaign websites. By the way, SNS users are exposed to political knowledge through their social network connections (Pew Research Center, 2014). Online social networks mostly reflect offline social networks, most of which are motivated by non- political factors. In addition, content on SNS is not just political content; an algorithm decides what users see when they visit Facebook, which can be non-political content and political content. Such a media climate raises the possibility that individuals may be willing to do so. By the way, be exposed to political knowledge, as political content is being pushed to users by their social networks. Given that incidental exposure to political information is popular on Facebook and Instagram, restricting the exposure of political information to solely active news consumption does not reflect the current dynamic. As a result, this article unpacks SNS news consumption into both purposeful news consumption and incidental news exposure. Voicing of political views on Facebook and Instagram can convert people from political observers to participants, which can in turn contribute to more political action. We therefore suggest two potential serial mediators on the relationship between the frequency of use of SNS and participation in protests. More precisely, news exposure on SNS, followed by political speech, acts as a mediator in the relationship between the frequency of Facebook and Instagram usage and protest. These hypotheses are broken down into the impact of purposeful news consumption (H1), i-Proclaim | AJHAL Page 21

Choi et al.: Study of the Role and Impact of SNS in Protests: The Case of Candlelight Vigil of 2016 in South Korea with Data Visualization ………… (19-32) accidental news exposure (H2), if use of SNS service will have a static impact on offline political participation (H3). If use of “writing” on SNS services will have a static impact on offline political participation (H4), and if use of “reading” on SNS service will have a static impact on offline political participation (H5).

H1 : The frequency of SNS use of protest engagement will be serially mediated by purposeful SNS news consumption and political language. H2 : The frequency of SNS use of protest participation will be seriously mediated by incidental SNS news exposure and political language. H3 : Use of SNS will have a static impact on offline political participation. H4 : Use of “writing” on SNS will have a static impact on offline political participation. H5 : Use of “reading” on SNS will have a static impact on offline political participation.

SNS USE The easily accessed social media greatly affects political participation through worldwide awareness. This is proven through a research on students in Pakistan. The results reveal that the student’s political ideals are influenced by social media. In Pakistan, Facebook is the most used network among youth for political information. “According to the recent study, Pakistan has the second highest population of youth in the world after Yemen which has created a huge impact on the dynamics of Pakistan’s politics” (Ittefaq & Iqbal, 2018). Since 2008, Pakistan’s political parties are actively using social media and it has changed the dynamics of politics in Pakistan. The majority of survey respondents participated in politics via social media, especially Facebook. “An 11-country median of 44% say the increasing use of the internet has had a good impact on politics, but 28% feel that impact has been largely bad”(Smith, 2019) because they think that social media can have too much of an influence on others opinions. On the positive side, people say that social media has gotten a greater audience informed on current events. On the contrary, the internet makes it a lot easier to manipulate with false or skewed information. Social media has become a greater factor in political campaigns because of its influence toward a larger audience. With the accessibility of social media, it is a lot easier to get information on current events and get involved with politics. For example, with platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, politics have become more popular amongst a greater audience and have given more people a chance to reflect on their political views. Because of the great impact that social media has made on politics, the article states how “there are now proposals for internet voting, which could lead to more people participating in elections” (Satterfield, 2020). This could make social media even more influential. During the national elections, politicians with higher Social Media engagement got relatively more votes. Many previous political participants have focused on individuals rather than incorporating social networks which helped deepen the understanding of factors that lead people to express their views on political issues. Social media is becoming a very important part of political communication because it is a new tool that can let people participate in political matters. As a result of the explosion in the popularity of social media, politicians are increasingly interested in using social media as their political campaigns. Both the 2012 Korean presidential election and the 2012 United States presidential election showed a high level of political participation through social media and the internet. Candidates used social media to promote themselves and to give out more information

Page 22 Volume 8, No 1/2021 | AJHAL Asian of Journal Humanity, Art and Literature; Volume 8, No 1/2021 ISSN 2311-8636 (p); 2312-2021 (e) about their campaign. It shows that the Obama campaign was more active on social media and ended up having 20 million followers which was approximately 17 times more than Romney who was the opponent candidate. Users spread the news about political issues or awareness if they find it important or is something they agree with. Several users in social media are not the age to vote but they participate by motivating whoever can vote to vote. This alone shows the relationship between social media and political participation. Young adults and people on the internet are using social media to engage in a redefined way that is outside of traditional ways to take a part. Academic research gathered data that the more one consumes news media the more probable one is to be civically and politically engaged. The Obama presidential campaigns and the Arab Spring sparked interest in networked digital connectivity and political action, but the data remains distant from being certain. In a story posted in 2012, the journal Nature, “A 61- Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization,” collected data suggesting that the data on one’s Facebook feed could influence voting patterns greatly. Facebook data scientists state that selective messages promoted by friends “increased turnout directly by about 60,000 voters and indirectly through social contagion by another 280,000 voters, for a total of 340,000 additional votes.” Close friends are found to be more influential in social media regarding political participation. One journal, Information, Communication & Society, collected data regarding the relationship between SNS use and everything including voting and protesting. The self- survey studies show that 82% showed a positive relationship between SNS and civic or political engagement or participation. Further, “Measuring participation as protest activities is more likely to produce a positive effect, but the coefficients are not more likely to be statistically significant compared to other measures of participation.” It’s clear that SNS does influence one’s thought about civic or political engagement. SNS increases exposure to learning about ways to participate or being asked to participate in civic life. Users are also exposed to learn influential information from another user’s post. Users are also more likely to be asked to participate by political organizations, and participation is practically contagious when it comes through social media from those who post about politics. It is possible that personal communications between citizens teach others the problems affecting their communities, and find a way (usually protesting) to resolve these issues through political engagement. Scholars have studied and agreed that personal networks help to promote an active citizenry. Oxford Academic states that “the literature in SNS explicates contagion as the result of exposure and social learning, whereby the more people interact with others in SNS, the more likely they will see contacts engaging in political activity, and the more likely they will follow their friends' lead.” Many now use technological tools to view political content. So many studies are conducted and they are all looking into the relationship between SNS and political participation. There has been an experiment on the dual screening of UK party leaders debates that were on radio. Researchers found that political engagement was positively and very strongly associated with some duels screening around the debates, especially the ones where the users can actively contribute to online conversations. The research shows that there are some positive influences on people’s political engagement. i-Proclaim | AJHAL Page 23

Choi et al.: Study of the Role and Impact of SNS in Protests: The Case of Candlelight Vigil of 2016 in South Korea with Data Visualization ………… (19-32)

METHOD Sample This research is based on the Field Survey of Candlelight Demonstration and online survey data from a representative sample of South Korean adults collected between 1 December and 31 December 2016. The Field Survey was conducted at the field of 300 citizens on 31st December 2016 and the participants were the general public in the protest at the site of the candlelight vigil in Gwanghwamun. Online survey was produced by the author and SurveyMonkey, a professional survey polling company with online panels of respondents who willingly engage in surveys to obtain compensation from the firm. A total of 100 respondents from the Worldly Panel were recruited. This sample represents data from the census on main demographic variables. However the age distribution was marginally skewed towards younger individuals (18–29: 20.6 per cent; 30–39: 30 percent; 40–49: 23.5 percent; 50–25.8 percent) and the distribution of education was slightly skewed towards higher education (54.6 percent of college graduates) relative to the Korean population (37.8 percent of college graduates). Of the 100 respondents who completed the survey, 10 (1 percent of the sample) were excluded because the questionnaire was not properly completed. Subsequent analyses did not show any major variations between the entire sample and the final sample used in the analysis.

CRITERION VARIABLE: PROTEST PARTICIPATION Protest actions can be complex, including behaviors such as boycotts, protests, and even aggression. In this post, however, protest activity is limited to participation in street protests. Most studies have not separated protest-type activities from other types of political action, which also make it difficult to isolate the influence of SNS on protest-type activities. This research focuses on the actual involvement in the candlelight vigils. Respondents were asked if they engaged in candlelight vigils on a scale ranging from 0 = never to 7 = seven times or more (M = 2.51, SD = 1.74) In order to find out what a variable is, reading and writing political postings on SNS a demographic variable, a political one. We performed with Facebook and Instagram as a variable as predictors. Also, to find out what variables affect the reading and writing of political postings on SNS, we conducted a regression analysis that varied demographic variables, political variables, and SNS types (Facebook and Instagram) as predictors.

VARIABLES: USE OF FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM For the general evaluation of Facebook and Instagram, we first asked the respondents if they had a registered Social Network (Facebook or Instagram) account. 80.4 percent of respondents who had an account were asked about their SNS frequency of use, ranging from 1 = visiting the website less than once a month to 8 = several times a day (M = 5.49, SD = 1.38) and the average time spent on SNS on a typical day, ranging from 1 = not using it for a week to 6 = using it for more than 90 minutes a day (M = 3.99, SD = 1.32). Political Reading on SNS In order to quantify the level of incidental exposure to political news on SNS, individuals were asked, "Over the past two months, when you use SNS, how much do you find news and knowledge about current events, public issues, or politics when you might have been online for purposes other than news?” Responses were calculated on a 5-point response scale ranging from 1 = never to 5 = very often (M = 3.49, SD = 1).

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Purposeful News Consumption on Social Network Two questions were used to assess the use of SNS as a medium for news consumption. Respondents were asked how often SNS used (a) news consumption and (b) details on political topics over the past two months, calculated on an 8-point scale ranging from 0 = never to 7 = several times a day (M = 4.46, SD = 2.55). The relationship between these two things was 0.91. Political Writing on the SNS Respondents were asked how often in the past two months, they have used SNS to (a) express their opinion on political issues or public relations, (b) disseminate information information on the latest political scandal, and (c) disseminate information on the demonstration, as calculated by on an 8-point answer scale ranging from 0 = never to 7 = several times a day. These elements were combined to create a single political expression index (M =5.23, SD = 13.61, Cronbach's 5-007 =.93).

CONTROL VARIABLES Several control variables have been measured in order to examine the unique relationship between SNS use and protest behaviour. These included factors that have long been considered to influence individual protest participation (see della Porta & Diani, 2006; Valenzuela, 2013 for details). Discontent: Respondents were asked to report how much the incumbent government had made them feel angry," "wrong," and "frustrated," calculated on a 5-point response scale ranging from 1 = never to 5 = very regularly. These things were combined into an additive scale (M = 3.35, SD = 1.18, Cronbach's 5-007 =.96). Respondents tended to feel strong negative feelings toward the new government.

Figure 1: Income Range i-Proclaim | AJHAL Page 25

Choi et al.: Study of the Role and Impact of SNS in Protests: The Case of Candlelight Vigil of 2016 in South Korea with Data Visualization ………… (19-32)

Figure 2: Education Title

Figure 3: Gender

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Figure 4: Age

Figure 5: Ethnicity

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Choi et al.: Study of the Role and Impact of SNS in Protests: The Case of Candlelight Vigil of 2016 in South Korea with Data Visualization ………… (19-32)

Figure 6: Frequency usage of SNS

Figure 7: How long do you spend time on SNS

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Figure 8: How often have you used SNS in past two month?

Figure 9: How much the incumbent government had made you feel angry?

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Figure 10

Figure 11: Social Media and Protest Participation The majority of studies has suggested that social media tends to facilitate political participation (Boulianne). For instance, Xeons, Vromen, and Loader (2014) found that general social media use (i.e., time spent with social media platforms) is the strongest predictor of political engagement in three advanced democracies. In addition, social media facilitates citizens to engage in protest activity as one distinct form of political participation (Boulianne).Traditional mainstream media tend to either ignore protest events (e.g., McCarthy, McPhail, & Smith, 1996) or marginalize protest activities by using a “protest paradigm” (i.e., a type of coverage that advocates the status quo and delegitimizes or

Page 30 Volume 8, No 1/2021 | AJHAL Asian of Journal Humanity, Art and Literature; Volume 8, No 1/2021 ISSN 2311-8636 (p); 2312-2021 (e) disparages protesters or protest events that threaten the status quo; Chan & Lee, 1984; Gitlin, 1980) (John D. McCarthy). To overthrow the protest paradigm typically found in traditional mainstream media, protesters including activists often turn to social media to bypass the gatekeepers of traditional media and to create and disseminate their own messages (Lee). Especially during a time of nationwide protest, this kind of activity often becomes more prevalent in social media. Consequently, a substantial amount of protest-related information (e.g., mobilizing information or injustice stories that may provoke the anger of citizens) circulates in social media. This creates an increasing chance for users to pick up protest-related information, and it may encourage users to express their political opinions (Eltantawy). Therefore, it is fair to predict that social media use is positively related to protest participation. Yet, different social media platforms afford different functions and attract different audiences (Pasek). In this study, I focus on the role of Facebook because it is overwhelmingly the most popular social media platform in South Korea. A recent South Korean survey suggests that out of the 51 million people in the South Korean population, roughly 16 million are active Facebook users. In addition, 59.8% of social media users in South Korea used Facebook more frequently than any other social media platform. Thus, focusing on Facebook is appropriate for this case study.

FACEBOOK AS A SOURCE OF POLITICAL INFORMATION Facebook can lead to protest behavior by serving as a forum for political information or news (Eltantawy). Facebook users often receive breaking news in real time, which can provoke political discussions and facilitate protest participation (Zeynep Tufekci). For instance, news of the death of a young Egyptian blogger named Khaled Said, whom police beat to death for exposing their corruption, was rapidly spread via social media, and protests were launched during the Arab Spring in 2011 (Eltantawy). The swift dissemination of information thereby helps the public to remain informed, which often leads to further political action, such as protests. In addition, social media users can also receive protest-mobilizing information, which is a type of information that is often absent from mainstream news media because of norms of neutrality in journalistic practices. Indeed, exposure to mobilizing information on Facebook, including instrumental information (i.e., identification, locational, and tactical information) on various aspects of social justice, provides opportunities for individuals to participate in protests. Facebook plays a critical role as an information hub, especially when mainstream news media are not trusted. Through platforms like Facebook, the public can quickly become aware of illegality and corruption that may otherwise be buried by the mainstream media. Importantly, seeing political information on social media is unique from seeing it on other digital media platforms such as blogs and social movement websites. Social media users are exposed to political information incidentally, through their social network ties (Center). On Facebook, online social networks largely mirror offline social networks, which are mostly driven by factors unrelated to politics (e.g., family, school, and work). In addition, content on Facebook is composed not just of political content; an algorithm determines what users see when they access Facebook, which can be nonpolitical content (e.g., sports, gossip, music) and political content (Bode).

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Boulianne, Shelley. "Social media use and participation: a meta-analysis of current research." Information, Communication & Society (2015): 524- 538. Bouliannea, Shelley. "Information, Communication & Society; Social media use and participation: a meta-analysis of current research." Harvard Library (2015): 524-538. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2015.100854. Center, Pew Research. Facebook is a news source for many, but only incidentally. 4 February 2014. 2020. Chadwick, A. "The Political Information Cycle in a Hybrid News System: The British Prime Minister and the “Bullygate” Affair." The International Journal of Press/Politics (2011): 1-15. Eltantawy, N., & Wiest, J. B. "Social media in the Egyptian revolution: Reconsidering resource mobilization theory." International Journal of Communication (2011): 1207-1224. 5. John D. McCarthy, Clark McPhail and Jackie Smith. "Images of Protest: Dimensions of Selection Bias in Media Coverage of Washington Demonstrations, 1982 and 1991." American Sociological Review (1996): 478-499. Lee, Sangwon. "The Role of Social Media in Protest Participation: The Case of Candlelight Vigils in South Korea." International Journal of Communication (2018): 1523-1540. Pasek, J., More, E., & Romer, D. "Realizing the social Internet? Online social networking meets offline civic engagement." Journal of Information Technology & Politics (2009): 197-215. 6. TheWashingtonPost. Why are South Koreans so angry about presidential “Choi-gate”? Here are 4 reasons. The Washington Post. 23 November 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/11/23/why-are-south- koreans-so-angry-about-presidential-choi-gate-here-are-4-reasons/. 1 December 2020. Zeynep Tufekci, Christopher Wilson. "Social Media and the Decision to Participate in Political Protest: Observations from Tahrir Square." Journal of Communication, (2012): 363-379. --0--

How to cite this article:

Choi, M. S., Choi, S. A., Ryu, J., & Choi, Y. (2021). Study of the Role and Impact of SNS in Protests: The Case of Candlelight Vigil of 2016 in South Korea with Data Visualization Using Python. Asian Journal of Humanity, Art and Literature, 8(1), 19-32. https://doi.org/10.18034/ajhal.v8i1.543

Article URL: https://i-proclaim.my/journals/index.php/ajhal/article/view/543 Online Archive: https://i-proclaim.my/journals/index.php/ajhal/issue/archive

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