Global Social Networking Beyond the Digital Divide? Mobile Digital Technology and the Dictator’s Dilemma

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session and Reception
  In Interactive Paper Session: Global Communication and Social Change Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Are authoritarian regimes ever really successful at stopping at the use of social networking services? This study conducts a panel data analysis on 182 countries observed from 2010 to 2012, to investigate a cross-country difference in the adoption of Facebook. The findings show that, concerning the diffusion of recent ICTs, authoritarian rules have a limited ability to maneuver in obstructing the way to the global social network. Rather, the governments’ suppression promotes the increased use of Facebook in response to the spread of cell phones and the growth of the urban population. Finally, a wider Facebook reach occurs when people perceive higher levels of political efficacy under such authoritarian controls, whereas it corresponds to greater public unrest in democracies.

Author

• Shin Haeng Lee, U of Washington