Social networks and political awareness in Iran: a study on the role of Facebook in rise of political awareness in Iran

The purpose of this study is to understand whether Web 2.0 social networks play an effective role in the rise of political awareness in countries with repressive regimes. In recent years new forms of media and user contributed content (blogs, social networking sites, and social media) have ignited a hope for free flow of information. However, repressive regimes have attempted to isolate their citizens from access to free media. This research hopes to discover whether the new generation of media can improve political awareness in society, and as a result, increase participatory and civil resistance against repressive regimes. In the recent presidential election in Iran and the subsequent circumstances, social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs played an important role. In many cases they were the only sources providing news within Iran. The concept of the public sphere should be considered as a canonical concept in this research, because social interactions are the main source for the formation of political opinion. In Iran, due to the limitation on freedom of speech and media restrictions the possibility of free social interaction decreased. The new Web sphere created by social networks provides a virtual public sphere that affords social interaction. In this study the researcher attempts to conceptualize political awareness through a review of the literature. Four dimensions of political awareness have been recognized: foundational knowledge of politics, factual contemporary knowledge, historical fact knowledge, and access to the elite opinion. The researcher proposes the use of quantitative methods to measure the possible effects of Facebook use on its users in Iran for each of these dimensions. The data will be collected via web survey. The results will then be statistically analyzed to determine whether or not there is a significant effect