Abstract
José Marichal’s book on the role that Facebook can play in political participation and the construction of political identities online offers a refreshing look at Facebook outside of the typical constraints of the interpersonal. At times however the book misses out on a discussion of key theoretical concepts in computer-mediated and political communication that are needed to understand just how far one can take the argument about the public–private nature of Facebook. One cannot help but feel frustrated reading this book at times, wondering why it is Marichal does not spend more time addressing things that he picks up and moves away from rather swiftly, such as: latent ties, social identity, Facebook use during the 2008 presidential election in the United States, the hyperpersonal model (Walther) and more. All of these are topics worthy of consideration, but need more attention paid to them in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of Facebook. More often than not, Facebook Democracy skims the top level of literature related to understanding the role Facebook can play in the creation of a public identity versus personal, leaving the reader with more questions than answers to those initial questions posed by the author.
Marichal’s description of what he calls the ‘architecture of disclosure’ (the crux of the book) is fascinating and spot-on in addressing how the nature of the company (because, as Marichal notes, Facebook is a private business, not a public service) can dictate how people go about disclosing information online. Addressing the push–pull of public and private, Marichal suggests that at the end of the day there is a chance for Facebook to be used for political participation, but the key is listening and keeping an open mind to others instead of falling down the rabbit hole of narcissism (final chapter, ‘Conclusions: How to listen on Facebook’). How Marichal gets to this point requires work, however. Given the focus on political and civic engagement through Facebook, it is somewhat surprising the lack of discussion that exists on the role Facebook played in the 2008 presidential election in the United States. While it is briefly touched on in a few spots in different chapters, for the most part the book draws on non-campaign related political examples for civic engagement. These examples are important, but only a subset of the bigger picture. There exists an entire literature base that looks not only at how democratic deliberation can occur on Facebook during an election, but how candidates can use Facebook to interact with constituents (see: entire issue of Mass Communication and Society dedicated to research articles on the 2008 election; Sonja Utz’s 2009 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication article on campaigning via social media; and Mitchell McKinney and Mary Banwart’s 2011 book on digital natives and political communication, none of which are cited by Marichal). Not drawing on these obvious examples in discussing the relationship between social media and politics is an error that is hard to overlook, while also providing a powerful counter-argument to the suggestion by Marichal that the self-selective nature of Facebook can prevent us from truly engaging with the public. Indeed, at points it is unclear what Marichal is trying to claim about Facebook and the potential for deliberation and political and/or civic engagement.
Within any given chapter Marichal pulls together popular news sources, academic research, business reports and quotes from Mark Zuckerberg on what he wants for people who use Facebook. While this provides an interesting variety of sources and topics, it does a disservice to the overall message of the book by trying to take on too much to tie together a clear vision of the public and private sides of Facebook. Although in a way this highlights the inherent issue with Facebook (it is both an individualistic and collectivist site at once, as Marichal notes), the book would be better served by going into more depth on a few subjects than attempting to cover the entire breadth of discussion connected to Facebook on a variety of levels.
It is when Marichal addresses his own research in conjunction with the broader claims about the politics of the personal that he makes the most sense. In the chapter entitled ‘Facebook and the decline of the public’ we see these examples play out the most, wherein more often than not those who post in political groups tend to express their own view without taking into account that of others (p. 73). As Marichal suggests, the self-selective network that is Facebook, can run the risk of insulation for a user, seeing a trend towards the private over the public (hence, decline). These arguments make logical sense to the reader, but stand in contradiction with much of the literature that exists about political engagement and social network sites, and a discussion of what this means is needed to better hash things out.
Marichal begins a discussion about how politicians can use social media to connect with voters, and the public–private tension that exists for them, in Chapter 9, ‘Friending the nation-state’. Here the potential exists again to draw on a growing body of literature on the role of computer-mediated communication in campaigns, but instead the book focuses on just two examples: New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker and Prime Minister for the UK, Gordon Brown (p. 139) that are underdeveloped. This flip-side to political engagement is a nice chapter to see as the book draws to a close, but again, it could do more to offer a clear big picture of the state of politicians and their use of social network sites. What does this mean in relation to how everyday citizens engage with social networking sites and our expectations of those in public office?
A final feature of the book that at times can be frustrating is its repetitiveness. Marichal has a tendency to repeat himself in detail throughout the book, and at times inconsistently. In Chapter 1 (‘Facebook and the utopian/dystopian dialectic’) for example, Marichal first suggests that there are four dystopian ‘strands’ and then in the very next paragraph (p. 19) suggests that there are actually five potential issues with the Internet (information overload, selectivity bias, digital divide, lack of empathy, and added last minute, slacktivism) without any explanation of how we went from four to five strands/issues. Later, we see the same statistics cited extensively in both the introduction and other chapters that offer nothing about the larger argument being made. This repetitiveness, coupled with significant proofing errors, leaves the reader with a feeling that this book is a work in progress, laying the seeds of an idea and concept that can help us understand the relationship between Facebook and politics, but leaving us begging for more attention and literature to fill the gaps. This reader in particular would liked to have seen more discussion of Marichal’s own research and work in analysing Facebook groups, which, peppered throughout the chapters, offered a unique perspective on the international landscape of Facebook that tends to be overlooked in the literature that exists today.