Accountability through (Inter)Action? A Framework of Affordances for Understanding Civil Society Accountability on Social Media Platforms
This article investigates how social media can enable and constrain civil society organizations’ (CSOs) discharge of accountability. Based on a comparative analysis of the Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X) posts of the Swedish Red Cross during 1 year ( N = 1014), we propose a framework of afford...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Social Media + Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251340146 |
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| _version_ | 1849689331033178112 |
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| author | Cecilia Gullberg Nils Gustafsson |
| author_facet | Cecilia Gullberg Nils Gustafsson |
| author_sort | Cecilia Gullberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article investigates how social media can enable and constrain civil society organizations’ (CSOs) discharge of accountability. Based on a comparative analysis of the Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X) posts of the Swedish Red Cross during 1 year ( N = 1014), we propose a framework of affordances that illustrate how platform features, practices, norms, and perceptions about audiences jointly shape the accountability potential of a platform. Accountability is overall more content- than process-oriented, emphasizing visibility of action rather than far-reaching social interactivity. Our study, however, reveals important differences between Instagram and Facebook, on the one hand, and Twitter, on the other. Whereas accountability is more short-term, scripted, and donor-oriented in the former, it is more abstract and ad hoc, with mainly indirect efforts at interactivity, in the latter. Our framework of affordances sheds light on the hitherto under-researched intersection between the literature on CSO accountability and the literature on CSO use of social media. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7e3b4dea4f3e47b9a588402ff93fd727 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2056-3051 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Media + Society |
| spelling | doaj-art-7e3b4dea4f3e47b9a588402ff93fd7272025-08-20T03:21:42ZengSAGE PublishingSocial Media + Society2056-30512025-05-011110.1177/20563051251340146Accountability through (Inter)Action? A Framework of Affordances for Understanding Civil Society Accountability on Social Media PlatformsCecilia Gullberg0Nils Gustafsson1Södertörn University, SwedenLund University, SwedenThis article investigates how social media can enable and constrain civil society organizations’ (CSOs) discharge of accountability. Based on a comparative analysis of the Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X) posts of the Swedish Red Cross during 1 year ( N = 1014), we propose a framework of affordances that illustrate how platform features, practices, norms, and perceptions about audiences jointly shape the accountability potential of a platform. Accountability is overall more content- than process-oriented, emphasizing visibility of action rather than far-reaching social interactivity. Our study, however, reveals important differences between Instagram and Facebook, on the one hand, and Twitter, on the other. Whereas accountability is more short-term, scripted, and donor-oriented in the former, it is more abstract and ad hoc, with mainly indirect efforts at interactivity, in the latter. Our framework of affordances sheds light on the hitherto under-researched intersection between the literature on CSO accountability and the literature on CSO use of social media.https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251340146 |
| spellingShingle | Cecilia Gullberg Nils Gustafsson Accountability through (Inter)Action? A Framework of Affordances for Understanding Civil Society Accountability on Social Media Platforms Social Media + Society |
| title | Accountability through (Inter)Action? A Framework of Affordances for Understanding Civil Society Accountability on Social Media Platforms |
| title_full | Accountability through (Inter)Action? A Framework of Affordances for Understanding Civil Society Accountability on Social Media Platforms |
| title_fullStr | Accountability through (Inter)Action? A Framework of Affordances for Understanding Civil Society Accountability on Social Media Platforms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Accountability through (Inter)Action? A Framework of Affordances for Understanding Civil Society Accountability on Social Media Platforms |
| title_short | Accountability through (Inter)Action? A Framework of Affordances for Understanding Civil Society Accountability on Social Media Platforms |
| title_sort | accountability through inter action a framework of affordances for understanding civil society accountability on social media platforms |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251340146 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ceciliagullberg accountabilitythroughinteractionaframeworkofaffordancesforunderstandingcivilsocietyaccountabilityonsocialmediaplatforms AT nilsgustafsson accountabilitythroughinteractionaframeworkofaffordancesforunderstandingcivilsocietyaccountabilityonsocialmediaplatforms |