Social Technology and the New Forces that Dominate Social and Political Systems

social media, technology, globalization

The research argues that we are witnessing an era of “social technology”, in which social changes are determined by new technology. Social technology is defined as a way of using digital resources to influence citizen participation in public decision-making by using integrated social technologies. It is argued that the rise of new media is connecting people from all over the world instantaneously, creating new forces that dominate social and political systems: publics, globalization and new journalism. For publics, public agenda is changing with new media, as information not is controlled anymore by traditional media and governments. Social media is crucial in shaping political discourse, allowing people to interact with each other by both sharing and consuming information. The new social environment has global impact, since it changes the way that people interact by spreading ideas of freedom and democracy and motivating them to become active in political changes. With new journalism, the relations between media and politics changed tremendously, as well as the relations between politicians and the public. The main impact of the new global environment of social technology is that politicians and governments are being forced to reach the people over different information services, in many cases at the same time, including traditional and social media.

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