EXAMENSARBETE INOM TEKNIK, GRUNDNIVÅ, 15 HP STOCKHOLM, SVERIGE 2019 Act or interact? The perceived influence of social media on millennial prosocial behaviours ELLA WIRSTAD GUSTAFSSON LINDA CNATTINGIUS KTH SKOLAN FÖR ELEKTROTEKNIK OCH DATAVETENSKAP Act or interact? The perceived inuence of social media on millennial prosocial behaviours Linda Cnattingius Ella Wirstad Gustafsson KTH Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Insittute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm, Sweden [email protected] [email protected] Abstract och samtida aspekter spela en viktig roll för deltagarnas moti- With modern communication technology advancements, ac- vation att engagera sig i kostsamma och konkreta prosociala tivist expression has become more common on social media handlingar. platforms. Especially susceptible to these expressions is the Keywords social media activism, slacktivism, prosocial be- millennial generation, whose lives are greatly permeated by haviour, moral self-licensing, media technology media technology. This thesis aims to explore in what ways the social media platform Facebook inuences millennials’ motivation to engage in substantial prosocial behaviours that 1 Introduction are intended to benet other people or society as a whole. The format of social media has made it a popular platform Through mixed-method research design, participants’ atti- for political and civic engagement. During the past years tudes towards Facebook as a platform for activism and its we have witnessed movements representing dierent social- inuence on prosocial motivational aspects, was explored. political voices rising and spreading through hashtags on Results indicated that previous habits of supportive engage- social media with impactful outcomes [4][15][23]. Although ment and the cost of the supportive action inuenced how proven to have played an important part as political acceler- the likeliness and motivation to engage in substantial sup- ators, some voices remain critical towards social media as a portive actions was aected by Facebook interaction. More platform for political revolution [8][14]. Critical voices also precisely, higher levels of previous engagement, as well as aim to separate online activism from its passive counterpart, engagement in costly, prosocial actions contributed to an slacktivism, dened as, increased motivation to engage further in such actions. Fur- political activities that have no impact on real-life political thermore, social and contemporary aspects showed to play outcomes, but only serve to increase the feel-good factor of the a large part for participants’ motivation to engage in costly participants [5] and substantial prosocial actions. Especially active in social-political online activism is the generation that is often referred to as the millennial genera- tion i.e. people born 1981-2001 [10]. A dening aspect of this Sammanfattning generation and their lives is the constant presence of Internet, I samband med dagens kommunikationsteknologiska fram- and consequently, media technology permeating every facet steg har aktivistiska uttryck blivit allt vanligare på plattfor- of their lives. The millennials are a globally interconnected mar för sociala medier. Särskilt mottagliga för sådana uttryck generation and by using social media to stay connected with är millenniegenerationen, från engelskans ’milliennials’, vars others, they can catalyse online communities and motivate liv till stor del genomsyras av medieteknik. Denna studie action [7]. While digital technologies, such as Facebook, har för avsikt att utforska hur den sociala plattformen Face- have shown to sometimes provide powerful tools to engage book påverkar motivationen för individer tillhörande mil- and motivate, this thesis aims to study the potentials and lenniegenerationen att engagera sig i konkreta prosociala pitfalls of Facebook, by exploring it’s perceived eects on beteenden som har som syfte att gynna andra människor substantial prosocial actions. Moreover, as individuals of the eller samhället som helhet. Genom kombinerade kvalita- millennial generation have been called ’digital natives’ due to tiva och kvantitativa forskningsmetoder utforskades delta- their inherent relation to digital technology[11], this article garnas attityder gentemot Facebook som en plattform för will especially study possible consequences these technolo- aktivism, och dess inverkan på prosocialt motiverande as- gies might have on individuals of this generation. Millennials pekter. Resultaten visade att tidigare vana av engagemang have also shown to have a more positive attitude towards samt kostnaden av den välgörande handlingen påverkades technology than older generations which could make them av Facebook-interaktion. Närmare bestämt, högre nivåer av especially susceptible to such eects[11]. tidigare engagemang samt engagemang i kostsamma, proso- This thesis thereby aims to explore how millennials’ inter- cial handlingar bidrog till en ökad motivation till fortsatt action on Facebook aects their motivation and likelihood engagemang i sådana handlingar. Vidare påvisades sociala to engage in substantial prosocial actions. Prosocial actions Cnaingius and Wirstad Gustafsson are actions that are intended to benet others or society as a nothing else. As a part of his argumentation, he refers to his whole, and often entails cost or risk to the self [22]. For the earlier research where he examines people’s general eorts purpose of this study we have dened substantial prosocial to contribute to social causes and reached the conclusion actions as actions that has a direct, benecial impact on a that online contribution not having tangible impact on the social movement such as donating money or volunteering. cause. He denes slacktivism as: Facebook is the social media platform which is most com- monly used among millennials and allows its users to engage "’Slacktivism’ is an apt term to describe feel- in social movements in multiple dierent ways, such as join good online activism that has zero political or discussion groups and organisations and receive live updates social impact." from these [7]. Users can also show their support to social movements and organisations by sharing, or liking content or proles [20]. In the article "Political activities on the Internet: Slack- This study will give voice to, and act as a starting-point for tivism or political participation by other means?" by Henric further reection regarding millennials’ perception of using Christensen, the author examines what forms of activism social media such as Facebook as a platform for communicat- performed on the internet should be dened as slacktivism ing and engaging in prosocial actions. By nding out more or just online activism [5]. He uses Morozov’s denition of about millennials’ behaviour on Facebook, social movements slacktivism and raises the criticism of online activism be- can also improve and optimise their online presence in order ing less eective and online activities replacing traditional to provoke oine activist actions among millennials and oine participation and thereby lowering overall levels of thereby cause a more substantial impact for change. participation. Further, the notion of an action as costly, substantial and Furthermore, Christensen highlights that according to impactful, as opposed to a costless, symbolic action that Morozov’s denition, slacktivism lacks the intention of in- entails low-eort [6], will also be studied in order to gain volving people in social movements through actions that a deeper understanding of social media as a platform for require a higher degree of eort and risk, and claims that activism. Moreover, this study will explore the concept of not all forms of online activism can be dened as slacktivism. moral self-licensing in a public social context, and how it Moreover, he argues that if the content presented online by a might play an important role in social media’s eect on social movement encourages people to further participation action and motivation. With these concepts explored the and involvement, rather than only joining Facebook groups following questions will be explored using mixed-methods and sharing posts, it should no longer be considered slack- research design. tivism. He also argues against Morozov, expressing the lack How do millennials perceive that their motivation to engage of evidence proving that online activism actions replaces the in prosocial actions is aected by interacting with Facebook traditional forms of oine activism participation. content? How do millennials perceive Facebook as a platform Other studies express the distinction between activism for activism? and slacktivism as especially blurry on social media, since activism sometimes relies on the type of slacktivism of the 2 Related work masses that is characteristic of social media interaction [3]. In "Clicktivism, Slacktivism, or ’Real’ Activism? Cultural This section will review research and theories relating to this Codes of American Activism in the Internet Era" Mary Butler study. The related work will discuss the topics of slacktivism describes the possibilities of internet, where people have and behavioural licensing eects that could inuence how the ability to spread information and discuss social change participants are aected by Facebook interaction. every second of the day [2]. Furthermore, she argues, in- ternet facilitates connections between people over similar 2.1 Slacktivism concerns without needing organisations or leaders. How- The term slacktivism was introduced