Youth organisations social media analysis

The aim of this work package was to explore how young people are represented on selected youth organisations’ social media platforms, with special attention to issues of intersectionality, and young people’s access to deliberative and political participation. The study was guided by the following objectives: <br/>To explore how young people are represented on selected youth organisations’ social media platforms. <br/>To explore how young people and youth organisations communicate about intersecting positions of marginalisation - and access to deliberative and participatory practices. <br/>To explore the youth organisations’ respective forms of expression and communication (such as language, visual, text, symbols). <br/> <br/>Visual and textual data was conducted from twelve selected youth organisations’ Instagram platforms during a one-year period from 15th of June 2023 to 15th of June 2024. The data analysis was divided into three sub-tasks, matrix 1, 2, and 3. For matrix 1, the selected cases were contextualised and characterised by presenting the organisation and describing their Instagram profiles in order to provide a background for the analysis. For matrix 2, main thematic issues presented in the selected youth organisations’ Instagram profiles, as well as main forms of expressions, were identified across all posts from the selected organisations. This was done in order to gain a broad descriptive overview of the themes and issues young people consider important, their frequency across the organisations’ Instagram platforms, as well as to provide an overview of the forms of communication applied by the respective organisations. Matrix 3 was by far the most extensive material and the most comprehensive analysis conducted, applying a qualitative in-depth analysis of a series selected of posts from the respective 12 organisations. Accordingly, 10 posts from each organisation was analysed in further depth, with specific attention to five analytical focus points; i) the problem addressed, ii) the political agenda implied in the post, iii) barriers and pathways to different forms of deliberative and political participation, and iiii) representations and inclusion of youth, minorities and potentially marginalised youth. This study and analysis generated an extensive, rich, complex and multidimensional dataset, which reflects the diverse national, cultural, social and political contexts of the respective organisations. <br/> <br/>The findings from matrix 1 showed both commonalities as well as differences between the selected organisations in the ways in which they organised and represented themselves, as well as in the thematic contents of their posts. As for the shared characteristics, all of the organisations were ideologically determined, and centred on ensuring the civic, social and political participation and representation of young people. The organisations differed in their forms, aims and history, in the visual impressions of the organisations’ Instagram platforms, in the numbers and frequency of their posts, as well as in the amount of followers they had. The posts' preferred format combined text and images, including drawings, with less frequent use of other formats like videos, interviews or podcasts. The thematic overview of all posts in the selected period provided in matrix 2, showed several recurring issue- and event-related themes, as well as numerous intersecting social positions, across the organisations. Firstly, in terms of issues, the posts covered broad ranges of topics such as youth rights, democracy, anticapitalism, antifascism, antiracism, migrants and refugees rights, feminism, LGBTQIA+ rights, social justice, workplace equality, peace, inclusion, solidarity, sustainability and climate justice. Secondly, in terms of events, the posts varied from internal, local, national and international events. Thirdly, the specific intersecting social positions emphasised in the posts included age, gender, race, ethnicity, LGBTQI+, disability, mental health, religion, working class, low literacy/education, unemployment, poverty, and homelessness. Overall the thematic analysis pointed to common attentions across the organisations towards a broad range of ideological issues, as well as to the embracement of youth engagement in multi forms of formal and informal political participation. <br/> <br/>Arising from the in-depth thematic analysis of the 120 selected posts in matrix 3, it became apparent that concepts of youth, deliberative dialogue and political participation take multiple forms in different contexts and by different groups of actors. Hence, the ways in which young people represent themselves on social media, and their possibilities for deliberative and political participation, is highly influenced by the type of organisation through which they express themselves, and the context in which they unfold their lives. Based on this diversity the in-depth qualitative analysis allowed us to identify three respective types of organisations across the 12 selected cases (formal, activist and empowerment oriented organisations). These types of organisations shared common characteristics in the ways in which they represented youth and intersecting positions of marginalisation, in the forms of deliberative and political activities they promoted, as well as in the forms of expressions they applied. Based on these findings, the study emphasises a few major conclusions to consider, when developing methods for promoting young people’s equal access to deliberative and political participation. Firstly, the ways in which young people represent themselves and their possibilities for deliberative and political participation on social media is highly influenced by the type of organisation through which they express themselves. Secondly, it is not always clear whether it is young people themselves who communicate on the organisations’ social media platforms or if ‘youth perspectives’ might be defined and presented by professionals. This must be acknowledged when claiming to be presenting a ‘youth perspective’. Thirdly, while most organisations demonstrate awareness of the unequal condition for political participation among marginalised youth groups, they do so in very different ways ranging from subtle visualisations, over naming certain groups in solidarity, to actually inviting appointed marginalised groups to participate in facilitated deliberate dialogues. This calls for an awareness on how to best represent and give voice to marginalised groups. Fourthly, since young people’s participation in deliberative dialogues and political activities take many different forms across the different types of organisations, efforts for strengthening different groups of young people’s access to participate in these, as well as for building their capabilities to utilising their full political potentials, must take these different forms of participation into account. Fifth, this qualitative analysis has enabled deep empirical insights that clearly show how young people, including those in intersecting marginalised positions, are depicted as active agents in broad ranges of deliberative and political activities (or possessing the potential to become active) across all of the organisations. Despite the variety in the forms of expressions, in the forms of youth representations, and in the forms of deliberative activities promoted - these empirical insights underline a broad united advocacy for young people’s legitimate rights and capacities for being represented in deliberative and decision-making processes.