Social media is a digital coffeehouse

Political scientist Anamaria Dutceac Segesten, Vice Dean of Lund University in Sweden, stated that social media no longer possesses the power to spark revolutions as it once did, has "turned into a digital coffeehouse," and can only influence politics when combined with actors such as the private sector, government, and other media.

WE DO NOT THINK LIKE WE USED TO

Segesten, who attended the International Strategic Communication Summit (Stratcom Summit'23) held in Istanbul on November 24-25 by the Presidency's Directorate of Communications under the theme "Global Struggle with Hybrid Threats: Stability, Security, Solidarity," answered questions regarding the power of social media to influence political and social events and the use of artificial intelligence.

Pointing to the importance of communication as a strategic element in public diplomacy, Segesten noted that in this context, social media is also one of the important digital environments.

Regarding the debates on the impact of social media on social and political events since its inception, Segesten said, "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to say that in the early 2010s, there was great enthusiasm in academia, in the media, and among people about the potential of social media. It was a new technology that held the seeds for positive transformation, democracy, and development, but I don't think we think that way anymore."

IT HAS BECOME A NORMALIZED TECHNOLOGY

Noting that social media has become a normalized technology, Segesten stated that social media, which is now easily accessible via phones and is a part of daily life, has a reduced potential to cause revolutions and change things.

Segesten said, "As scientists, we know that social media cannot have an independent impact on its own. It can only influence politics or communication with the help of other elements."

Emphasizing that social media does not have an impact on its own, Segesten continued, "If we are only discussing politics on social media, or discussing our society, our city, or our neighborhood, just talking will not lead to anything. However, if we can get the mayor, certain companies, or certain sectors to listen to what we have to say, then we can really change things together. Therefore, as a discussion space, social media is nothing more than a digital coffeehouse. Social media can only change and influence politics together with actors such as the private sector, government, and other media."

Pointing out that artificial intelligence is now more on the agenda as a new technology, Segesten stated that although this technology causes problems such as deepfakes or content manipulation, it also contains solutions within itself.

Touching on the issue of combating disinformation, Segesten continued:

"It is clear that states can do a lot. In a sense, they can spend a lot of resources to educate citizens on media literacy. An educated citizen is a citizen who is immune to receiving manipulated misinformation. The second step is to strengthen independent and free media, and journalists who can work independently and find the truth without being influenced by political interests. This requires some preparation and skills. That is, training citizens, educators, journalists, as well as state communicators and public service communicators to detect potential errors and mistakes. Even artificial intelligence technologies can be used to detect problems, check accuracy, detect media manipulation, and improve information quality in general.

Explaining that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the European Commission, and some other major organizations have created guidelines for the use of reliable artificial intelligence, Segesten said, "In other words, an artificial intelligence that is transparent, accountable, and based on informed consent. There are some principles we can follow. It is indeed possible to create such technologies that work for good, not for evil."