Facebook as a Local and Community Digital Media? Experiences Impacting on the Unemployed Audiences of the Project “&lt;i&gt;REviver na Rede&lt;/i&gt;”

João Pinto,Teresa Cardoso

doi:10.30935/ojcmt/11080

Abstract

In the context of globalization, the Project “REviver na Rede” emerged as a response to a specific problem (unemployment) felt within a regional community (audience). Our threefold theoretical framework covers the perspectives drawn from a literature review on: networked society; social networks; unemployment and sociability. These theories sustain the practices put forward, taking advantage of the digital tools and features provided by Facebook. The impact of involving local audiences helped us achieve a valuable engagement, for instance through a prompt and assertive interaction, or a pedagogical moderation. Content curation and motivational communication also proved to be successful strategies to meet those aims. In short, the implementation of the project highlighted the fact that Facebook can contribute to manage employability factors, like the isolation and social exclusion in unemployment. We conclude, therefore, that this digital online social network is a valid tool for the integration, socialization and active job search, helping to improve employability. Ultimately, Facebook can act as a local and community digital media, facilitating experiences impacting on its audiences, among which the unemployed members of the online “REviver na Rede” page and group.

Highlights

We live in a globalized society, structured according to networks mediated by technology, in which phenomena such as cyberculture and participatory culture emerge, enhancing the individual’s ability to fulfill themselves as a social being and “completely changing the possibilities of communication.” (Vermelho et al, 2014, p. 186)
Facebook is changing the way hundreds of millions of people interrelate and share information, empowering the individual, enabling them to communicate more effectively. This framework has supported the genesis of the Project “REviver na Rede”, which we present, as a practical case of using the internet for the personal development of individuals and their communities, taking into account communication, interaction and sociability in social media networks, as a means to promote new forms of inclusion and active job search
Somehow related to Facebook and digital social networks, we share it on our Facebook page

Summary

INTRODUCTION

We live in a globalized society, structured according to networks mediated by technology, in which phenomena such as cyberculture and participatory culture emerge, enhancing the individual’s ability to fulfill themselves as a social being and “completely changing the possibilities of communication.” (Vermelho et al, 2014, p. 186). They make powerful resources available for sharing, collective constructing and socializing of knowledge accessible to everyone, which makes informal learning possible as an engine of lifelong learning While these transformations were taking place, Facebook emerged from a set of digital social networks, acquiring ubiquity and worldwide influence, as a “gigantic collaboration network” Facebook is changing the way hundreds of millions of people interrelate and share information, empowering the individual, enabling them to communicate more effectively This framework has supported the genesis of the Project “REviver na Rede”, which we present, as a practical case of using the internet for the personal development of individuals and their communities, taking into account communication, interaction and sociability in social media networks, as a means to promote new forms of inclusion and active job search. We further explore our theoretical framework, organized in a threefold perspective: networked society; social networks; unemployment and sociability

THE PARADIGM OF A NETWORKED SOCIETY

THE PARADIGM OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

THE PARADIGM OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND SOCIABILITY

Findings

CONCLUSION