Digital Political Literacy? How Three Community-BasedOrganisations in Inner-City Johannesburg Miss the Mark onSocial Media

Abstract

Social media has been highlighted as a tool for social justiceorganisations to access networks, increase their visibility and therebyincrease their power. However, using social media platforms forpolitical ends requires both technical skills and political know-how.Drawing on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's (1983. Anti-Oedipus:Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis, MN: University ofMinnesota Press) concepts of desire and desiring-machines, thisstudy used participatory action research, ethnographic observation,and content analysis to explore how three community-basedorganizations in central Johannesburg used social media to furthertheir political aims. The study revealed that low digital politicalliteracy hampered their political impact, notwithstanding access totechnical skills, fluent English, and regular data access. Their socialmedia posts noticeably failed to elicit interaction or to build theirnetworks; instead, they experience similar exclusion and inequalityas in the offline world