Content area
Abstract
This study aims to critique current, dominant conceptualisations of social media through case studies of two UK radical right groups, UKIP and Britain First. The current debate has been dominated by techno-deterministic analysis, which asserts that social media has had monocausal, universalistic effects on politics and society; these can be either positive (for techno-optimists) or negative (for techno-pessimists). Instead, this study advocates a critical approach described by scholars such as Christian Fuchs, which understands social media and technology as existing within a dialectical relationship with society. This study represents an empirical contribution to the critical approach. It compares how each group used social media to achieve various political aims. It takes a chronological approach to map both technological and social dimensions onto studies of both groups. Study into these groups demonstrates the limitations of techno-determinism, as the success they enjoyed refutes the conclusions of both techno-optimist and techno-pessimist literature. From this theoretical foundation, this thesis has undertaken quantitative and qualitative research into both groups. This study found that Britain First consistently made use of multimedia such as images, videos and shared links. This allowed them to 'game' Facebook's algorithms to maximise exposure. They also experimented with new functionality often. In terms of content, BF often presented propaganda as memes to optimise visual messages for a social media audience. This allowed them to generate a mass online following and significant streams of finance, if not much tangible, real-world support. This study also found that UKIP, by contrast, were not as dependent on social media for financial support or media exposure. Indeed, as media exposure increased, their use of social media similarly decreased. Moreover, the group's political messages were more limited, dominated by several major policy agendas, such as Euroscepticism, critique of the establishment and anti-immigrant culture based prejudice. Finally, in terms of messages, UKIP preferred a professional style of content creation to the memes of Britain First, recycling billboards and using more photographs and data visualisation.
