Lecture delivered at Riga Stradins University in Latvia.

1. The Era of Social Media:
Continuities and Changes in the
Media & Politics
Politics, Media and
Communication changes
and continuities at the era
of Social Media
Pablo A. Rivero Morales
Rīga Stradiņš University, 23rd March 2012

2. Castells, 2009
Meaning
is constructed in society through the
process of communicative action.
[…]
Communication
happens by activating minds to

3. Photo: Pablo A. Rivero
Morales

4. Photo: Pablo A. Rivero
Morales

5. „traditional‟ political
communication Parties
Public organisations
Political Lobbies
Reports organisation Terrorist organisations
Editorials
s Governments
Comments
Analysis
Appeals - challenges
Programmes - interviews
Advertising
PR
Media
Opinion polls
Letters from readers to
Reports editors
Editorials
Comments
Analysis
Civil
McNair, 2003
Society

6. „new‟ political
communication Parties
Public organisations
Reports
Political
Lobbies
Editorials organisation Terrorist organisations
Comments s Governments
Analysis
Appeals - interpellations
Programmes
Advertising E-mails
PR Social Media
Media Opinion polls Web
Letters from readers to platforms
editors Apps
Reports
Editorials
Comments Civil
Citizen
Based on journalism Society
McNair‟s model Analysis
2003

7. Social Media Revolution by Erik Qualman www.socialnomics.net

9. Internet: some
data
World Bank 2011
High income
World Euro zone Latvia
group
2000 2009 2000 2009 2000 2009 2000 2009
urban population 37 45 75 77 72 73 68 68
mobile phone suscriptions (per 100 people) 12.2 69 49.9 111.2 60.3 123.2 16.9 99.5
Personal computers (per 100 people) 8 15.3 36.4 65.4 26 56 14.3 32.7
Internet users (per 100 people) 6.7 27.1 30.5 72.3 22.8 67.3 6.3 66.7
Population covered by mobile cellular network
(%) .. 80 98 99 99 99 89 99
Fixed broadband Internet subscribers (% of
total subscribers) 19.9 89.2 3.5 80.7 0.8 100.1
E-gov‟t Web measure index (0–1, 1=highest
presence) .. 0.46 .. 0.48 .. 0.42

10. Facebook users in Latvia
Penetration of population 15.55%
Penetration of online
22.94%
population
users 18-34 63.1%
users under
45 76.4%
users over 45 11.5%
penetration of total population under
45 51.8%
penetration of total population over
Facebook in Latvia, some
45 8%
numbers
data from www.checkfacebook.com

11. Draugiem users in Latvia
Penetration of population 59.4%
Penetration of online
89%
population
users 16-29 55.4%
users 30-45 11.5%
Draugiem in Latvia, some
numbers
Secondary data from Kazaka, 2011:
http://www.eacaeducation.eu/uploads/may2011/olgapaper.pdf

12. News in Social Media
Era:
• Transmedia
• Multiformat
• multiplatform
Graeme Turner / University of
Queensland

13. How can be understood the
[complex] relationship between
politics, Media and
communication in the era of
Social Media?

14. A mistake…

15. • Journalism, PR, campaigning and
political performance, must avoid
misrepresentation and oversimplification
• Research & consulting: Critical
analysis by acknowledging and dealing
with complexity, not ignoring it
• Cultural construction of meaning
The „network society‟ is a culture of
protocols of communication
between all cultures in the world
(Castells, 2009).

17. “political persuasion is about networks and
narratives” because “the political brain is an
emotional brain”. This is why “the states
that really determine elections are voters‟
states of minds” (Westen, 2007).
Westen, Drew (2007). The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of
the Nation.
Narratives based on network
effects:

18. HOP

20. enthusias

21. togetherne
ss
Photo: Pablo A. Rivero

25. A big change, tough…

26. “There is more technology on these phones than the used by
human kind to go to the moon”
A. Gutiérrez-Rubí, 2011

27. • Mobile and real-time information
management
• Self-information producers
• Mobile surveillance (social

28. Conclusions…

29. • Society can now access to digital technology
and produce content like never before
• The Media still has the capability to use
resources like agenda-setting or framing.
Social Media has the technical alternatives to
challenge the Media, yet it tends to reproduce
it.
• Social dynamics are going digital and mobile.
Are politicians and journalist going digital and
mobile, too?
• There is a new scenario for monitoring and
new capabilities to challenge the media and
politicians from the civil society.
• Thus, new power relations are being

30. Communities are to be
distinguished, not by their falsity or
genuineness, but in the style in which
they are imagined.”
― Benedict Anderson, Imagined
Communities (1991)

31. Pablo A. Rivero Morales
www.pabloarivero.com
http://twitter.com/payorivero
http://on.fb.me/pabloarivero
payorivero@gmail.com
Thank you!