LEVEL OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT ON FACEBOOK AND FACTORS AND MOTIVATIONS TO CREATE CIVIC NETIZENS : CASE STUDY OF ASSUMPTION UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The research of Level of civic engagement on Facebook and factors and motivations to create civic netizens: case study of Assumption university students is a quantitative and qualitative research. The researcher uses an experiment on Facebook and in depth interview to find (1) level of engagement (2) factors facilitate university students to become civic netizens (3) motivations facilitating for youth to become civic netizens (4) approach to create civic netizens. The research result demonstrates that (1) Thai youth have low level of civic engagement, (2) multiples factors affecting their decisions in joining offline and online civic activities, which consist of responsibility, realization of existing problems, belief on self-ability, education, parenting, opportunity, friends and family participate in civic activity, award, and role model. These factors can create motivations for youth to participate in offline civic activities and online civic activities. (3) To create youth online civic engagement, ACTION Approach is recommended to be used by all parties who get involved in the creating youth civic netizens process, in which; A = Assistance by government (funding), C = Confidence by youth, T = Teach civic engagement by school/ university, I = Introduce civic engagement by parents, O = Organization’s active promotion, and N = New way of communication by media

Keywords: Civic netizen, civic engagement, civic citizen, empowerment, social media, Internet