1. THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY: CIVIC
ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATORY
CULTURE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA BY
EMERGING ADULTS
Stephanie M. Bennett
Matthew Ulyesses Blankenship
Janet C. Richards, Literacy Studies
University of South Florida, Tampa

2. INTRODUCTION
2
 Meet James
 Emerging adult (Arnett,
2000, 2004)
 Digital native (Prensky,
2001)
 Member of a participatory
culture (Jenkins et al., 2006)
University of South Florida, Tampa

3. CURRENT WAVE OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
RESEARCH
3
 Many developed countries,
specifically the US, face a crisis
in the declining levels of civic
participation by the younger
generation (Sherrod, Torney-
Puta, & Flanagan, 2010).
 Positive Youth Development
(PYD)
University of South Florida, Tampa

4. RESEARCH AIMS
4
 To examine what social media tools elementary
education (age 18-25) students find helpful to
promote their interests in civic engagement
 To determine how frequently students use social
media tools to foster their civic engagement
 To determine how emerging adults are using social
media tools to promote civic engagement
University of South Florida, Tampa

5. DEFINITION OF TERMS
5
 Emerging Adult (Arnett, 2000, 2004)
 Civic Engagement
 Participatory cultures (Jenkins, et al.,
2006)
 Categories include:
 Expressions: producing new creative
forms
 Circulations: shaping flow of media
through mediums
 Collaborative problem solving: working
together in teams to complete tasks and
create new knowledge
 Affiliations: memberships in online
communities
University of South Florida, Tampa

6. RESEARCH METHODS
6
 Participants:
 Elementary education majors
(18-25) within a large research
university in the southeastern
part of the US
 Full time students
 Included both graduate and
undergraduates
University of South Florida, Tampa

7. PROCEDURE AND PARTICIPANTS
7
 Administered the Social Media, Participatory Culture
and Civic Engagement Survey via Survey Monkey
 Contained revised questions from the Pew Internet and
American Life Project Survey and the California Survey
of Civic Education Digital Media from 2005-2009
 61 participants fell in the 18-25 category
 90% female, 10% male
 75 % white, 13% Hispanic, 8% African American, 6% multi-
racial
 Demographics representative of the credentialing elementary
education program at the university
University of South Florida, Tampa

8. RESEARCH DESIGN
8
 Mixed Methods Format
 Online Survey
 Contained open ended
questions
 Likert scale questions
University of South Florida, Tampa

9. RESULTS
9
 90% (N=63) used social media on
regular basis
 Social media sites such as Facebook
and Twitter
 Email, text messaging
 Retrieving political information
online
 Received political information once a
month or less via social media
 Includes:
 Discovering friends’ political interests or
affiliations (41.3%)
 Signing up as a “friend” on a politician’s
webpage (85%)
 Forwarded a political blog/video (82%)
University of South Florida, Tampa

10. RESULTS
10
 Utilizing social media to become
knowledgeable citizens in the political
process
 Use social media to view campaign
videos (29%)
 Watched online videos of candidate
debates (27%)
 Viewed interviews with candidates (26%)
 Viewed speeches or announcements
through social media more than once per
month (24%)
University of South Florida, Tampa

11. RESULTS
11
 Facebook and Twitter
overwhelming preferred sources of
political information
 “I have Facebook and Twitter. I
use Facebook to keep in touch
with friends and family. I use
Twitter to stay informed with
social issues.”
University of South Florida, Tampa

12. RESULTS
12
 Civic Engagement and Its Importance
 “Yes I think it is important to be civically
engaged in order to make your voice
heard. If you don’t make your voice
heard and something is going on that
you don’t agree with, I don’t believe it’s
fair to have an opinion on that. I just
believe we are the ones who shape our
world into what we want it to be so if we
aren’t civically engaged who is going to
shape the world and how will it turn out
to be?
University of South Florida, Tampa

13. SIGNIFICANCE
13
 Educators
 Should use this information to further
infuse research skills into classroom
instruction
 Embrace this technology in the classroom
so future emerging adults can meaningfully
engage in the social discourse
 Politicians
 Greater presence in social media to provide
meaningful information to emerging adults
 Emerging Adults
 Use this information to stay informed and
dialogue with each other, candidates, and
the world at large.
University of South Florida, Tampa

14. CONCLUSION
14
 Civic participation by
the younger
generations is
important to maintain a
viable democracy
 Digital natives turn to
social media to gather
information and
engage in civic dialogue
University of South Florida, Tampa

15. QUESTIONS AND CONTACT
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Contact Information
Stephanie Bennett, MA
EMAIL@USF.edu
Matthew Ulyesses Blankenship, M.Ed.
mublanke@usf.edu
Janet C. Richards, Ph.D.
Faculty Advisor
University of South Florida, Tampa