Thinking about the ‘silent readers’: a regional digital ethnographic case study exploring motivations and barriers to participation in public debate on Facebook

Abstract

There is increasing evidence fewer people are willing to discuss and debate issues of common concern on social media with their feeds becoming more conflict-laden and toxic. A more nuanced understanding is needed of the motivations and deterrents for individual participation, in different contexts. This article provides a unique perspective from regional Australia by considering the conditions under which a group of social media users in Launceston, Tasmania were more likely to participate in discussion on Facebook and the factors that encouraged participants to present a constructed version of themselves. In doing so, this digital ethnographic case study contributes to evidence about the limitations of Facebook as a place for democratic public debate and may have practical application by helping identify spaces on social media that are more likely to prompt open and honest discussion.