The Use of Social Media in Searching for Information about Papua

Abstract

The use of social media in searching for information relating to conflict and political issues has become immensely crucial since in those domains the information appearing is often biased and dominated by certain parties or groups. One of the political information that has frequently emerged in Indonesia is about Papua. Papua is the longest problem in the history of Indonesia and that conversation has continued, especially in social media in the last three years.This study intends to examine the use of social media in searching for information about Papua. The Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) is used in the study with a mixed method approach as both quantitative and qualitative data were concurrently utilized. Quantitative data obtained from a questionnaire distributed to 100 UPN "Veteran" students in Yogyakarta. While qualitative data from in-depth interviews with some sources. In conclusion, social media cannot be used as the only media for seeking information about Papua. Social media has a set of limitations requiring the audience to employ other means including face-to-face meetings through discussions. This is in line with UGT, which states that audiences actively choose the media based on their motivation, experience, and satisfaction.