A dialogue for social change on Facebook : A South African case study

Abstract

The increasing popularity of social media platforms and the Internet's increasing accessibility in developing countries establish a case for using social media in international development. This essay outlines the potential of social media to drive a dialogue for social change. I argue that social media posses an important potential that is grounded in the congruent philosophies of the two concepts 'social media' and 'social change.' Social media express a new mindset that distinguishes this evolved media species from the so-called traditional media. This social media mindset is expressed in six core ideas which I call the six Cs of social media: connectedness, community, content, conversation, collaborating crowd and collective action. Before elaborating on the theoretical underpinnings, I will first present the most important empirical findings of a case study: loveLife, South Africa's largest HIV-prevention initiative, which engages youth in vivid dialogues on Facebook about...