The role of Facebook and the new generation's political movement tactics, the year 2020-2021.

Abstract

This qualitative research purposed to study 1) the role of Facebook in the political movement of the Thai young generation during 2020 to 2021 and 2) strategies of the young generation using Facebook in the political movement during 2020 to 2021. Data collection included analysis of online contents of 3 politically active Facebook pages and interview with 7 key informants who were Facebook content creators or online influencers and experts in media and civil movement.

It was found that there were 4 roles of Facebook in the political movement which included 1) Facebook’s role as a communication channel with a characteristic of the center of the group (Hub) in driving their political movement 2) Facebook’s role as a space to display the identity of each group 3) Facebook’s role as a public domain in sensitive issues in Thai society, allowing people to connect with like-minded people more freely and 4) Facebook's role as an archive to record “the truth” about the political struggle of the young generation.

Data also showed that there were 4 strategies of the young generation in using Facebook for their political movement. They included 1) Strategies Content in political movements by presenting a solid substance through a format suitable for recognition and sharing through social media channels. Has a hashtag 2) a strategy for using influencers of the Democratic Party, such as leaders of the assembly; 3) a process for creating audience participation by Using a variety of methods, 4) real-time communication tactics to keep an eye on opponents and prepare for a counter-attack.