When SNS use Doesn't Trigger e-Participation: Case Study of an African Authoritarian Regime

Numerous scholars have concluded that there is a correlation between use of social network sites (SNS), particularly for news and information acquisition or community building, and the likelihood for e-Participation. This paper examines how the use of Facebook affects the participative behaviours of individuals active in political and interest organizations and those not active in organized politics. Through focus group discussions involving 56 Ugandans, we conclude that in low internet use, authoritarian contexts, the Civic Voluntarism Model and the benefits Facebook brings to participation in Western democracies are turned on their head. Besides overwhelming detachment from politics, even for politically-inclined citizens, low belief in citizens' online actions influencing change and fear of reprisals for criticizing an authoritarian president in power for 29 years, severely dulled the appetite for e-Participation. This high cost of participation means Facebook is growing citizens' civic skills but it is hardly increasing online participation even for politically interested citizens.