Digital Literacy Competencies of Netizens Activities on Twitter

Sofi Arinda

, Rika Lusri Virga

Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: digital literacy competencies, Twitter, netizens

Abstract: Hate speech is considered to be one of the problems in digital media, including Twitter. College students, as

the active users or netizens, seem required to protect themselves from such a problem. Hate speech cases

discovered on Twitter can be avoided by mastering digital literacy. Therefore, this research aims to find out

the digital literacy competencies of netizens in terms of activity on Twitter amongst Communication

Science students of Gadjah Mada University Yogyakarta. The method used in this research was qualitative

by gathering data through in-depth interview then analysing it using Paul Gilster’s theory about digital

literacy. The result of this research stated that Communication Science students of Gadjah Mada University

Yogyakarta have digital literacy competencies based on four competencies. They are internet searching and

hypertext navigation, while they still need improvement on content evaluation and knowledge assembly

competencies since they tend to be critical in terms of their interest and not assembling the knowledge yet

from others media to find the new one.

1 INTRODUCTION

The 2017 survey of the Indonesian Internet Service

Provider Associatio or Asosiasi Penyelenggara Jasa

Internet Indonesia (henceforth APJII) shows the

growth of internet users in 2017 to 143.26 million

out of 262 million as the total population of

Indonesia. 74.23% of internet users are college

students aged 19 to 34 and 87.13% of all internet

users access social media.

The emergence of social media has increased the

intensity of internet usage. The shift of public

interest to digital media as a communication tool is

forced by its fast, easy, and practical way of

disseminating information. On the other hand, the

rapid dissemination of information over the internet

is considered to cause problems such as the spread

of hate speech. Internet users should have self-

protection over such problems.

Kaplan (2010) defines social media as a set of

internet-based applications built on ideology and the

technology of Web 2.0 which allow the creation and

exchange of user-generated content. The rapid

dissemination of information over social media

should be useful to improve cognitive ability in

maximising the usage of digital media. But what

happens is a lot of improper cases such as hate

speech, cyber violence, or hoaxes are spreading

rapidly on social media, one of which is in Twitter.

By its characteristics, Twitter has become a place

for people to express their opinions freely and that

often triggers some opinion wars on social media.

Although the rules in using social media seem to be

missing, the state imposes legal restrictions on the

violation of Constitution UU nomor 19 tahun 2016

about Information and Electronic Transaction,

replacing UU nomor 11 tahun 2008. Online society

(netizens) and social media can act as agents of

political change (Gordon in Syahputra, 2017).

Consequently, netizens need to verify each piece of

information circulating on Twitter, especially for

issues that make up two alignments.

Even so, verification is only one part of some

competencies that social media users should have.

Having digital literacy in terms of internet usage

involves mastery of a set of core competencies

(Gilster, 1997). There are 4 (four) competencies for

digital literacy: internet searching, hypertext

navigation, content evaluation, and knowledge

assembly. These competencies become the primary

key for self-protection of internet users, including

Arinda, S. and Virga, R.

Digital Literacy Competencies of Netizens Activities on Twitter.

DOI: 10.5220/0008819402190222

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs (ICoCSPA 2018), pages 219-222

ISBN: 978-989-758-393-3

219

Twitter, over vast content such as hate speeches. The

term digital literacy has been used since 1990; it

refers to the ability to read and understand

hypertextual and multimedia text; Lanham in

(Bawden, 2001) equates the term digital literacy

with multimedia literacy, while, according to Deakin

University’s Graduate Learning Outcome 3 (DU

GLO3), digital literacy is the use of technology to

search, use, and disseminate information.

Furthermore, there is a Network of Digital

Literacy Activists (Jaringan Pegiat Literasi Digital)

who have conducted research to map the digital

literacy movement in Indonesia. Their research

shows the following result:

“Seen from agents of literacy movement at 9

cities in Indonesia, university (56,14%) emerge as

the main actor, followed by government (14,34%);

community (13,52%); non-profit organization

(5,32%); school and corporate (3,68% each). Others

are professional association and mass organization

2,86%); and media (0,4%)” (Kurnia, 2017).

Whereas “seen from the variety of activities:

socialization or lecture (29,64%) is the most

frequently performed digital literary activities,

followed by workshop or research (20,9%); seminar

or discussion (14,32%); research (11,33%); talk

show (11,08%); publication (4,78%); campaign and

advocacy (4,28%); others are competence,

mentoring and formation of anti-hoax units (2,01%);

and curriculum (1,51%)” (Kurnia, 2017).

Curriculum has the lowest percentage in digital

literacy activities because there are only a few

universities that have digital literacy courses, one of

which is the Communication Study Program of

Gadjah Mada University. This encourages

Researchers to examine the digital literacy

competence of netizen activities on Twitter on

Communication Science students of Gadjah Mada

University, Yogyakarta.

2 METHODS

This research uses a descriptive method with a

qualitative approach. The primary research data are

gathered through in-depth interviews with 3

informants who are the Communication Science

students of Gadjah Mada University that actively use

Twitter. A documentation technique using photos or

screenshots of netizen activity on Twitter will be

used as secondary data in this research. These

documentation data will be useful to evaluate the

relevance between answers given by interviewees

and their lives on Twitter.

The collected data is then analysed by doing data

reduction, data presentation, and conclusion

drawing. This analysis method refers to the Milles

and Huberman analysis model in Emzir (2010).

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

This research aims to describe the digital literacy

competence of Communication Science students of

Gadjah Mada University reviewed from 4

competencies, that are internet searching, hypertext

navigation, content evaluation, and knowledge

assembly. The collected data are analysed using Paul

Gilster’s theory.

3.1 Internet Searching:

Fulfilling Netizen Curiosity

As an informative form of social media, Twitter is

used as a media for information searching for one’s

interests and needs. Twitter users have the control to

manage from whom they want to receive

information or to find out certain issues manually

through the Twitter search features like the search

and trending column. Informant 1 who follows

movie updates described the movie information

search in Twitter by “using hashtag of the movie

title, reading replies and reviews from other users by

clicking each links available on their blog”.

Informant 1 showed that, in order to get information

on Twitter, besides having to follow the related

interest accounts it is also necessary to search for

information by entering the right keywords into the

column search..

In addition to the ability to do information

searches, Twitter usage activities are also an

indicator of digital literacy competency mastery on

the aspect of internet searching. It is related to the

knowledge and utilisation of various features

available on Twitter. Nevertheless, informants have

a tendency to use only the features they feel they

need in interacting on Twitter. As revealed by

Informant 3, not all features are used when accessing

Twitter. However, making use of features such as

tweet; like; reply; bookmark dm; list; and moment

has helped him in interacting on Twitter.

The Communication Science students of Gadjah

Mada University already know that the needs for

information as well as certain issues can be fulfilled

by the ability to search via Twitter in accordance

with netizens’ interests and needs. Besides this, the

ability to use and utilise features that support

interaction on Twitter is important.

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3.2 Hypertext Navigation:

Finding Continous Information

Understanding the hypertext guide direction is not

only related to the hypertext itself, but also the

knowledge of information available on digital media

(Gilster, 1997). Twitter allows the users to share

links which can lead to other related pages on an

issue or information.

This competency can be seen from some

indicators, that are: knowledge of hypertext and

hyperlink and how they work; knowledge of the

difference between searching information via

Twitter and print media; knowledge of how Twitter

works; and the ability to understand the

characteristics of Twitter page.

Using hypertext and hyperlink on Twitter

showed netizens’ ability to find attractive continuous

information. Informant 2 stated that he finds

hypertext on the timeline as well as on other users’

bio profiles. Furthermore, he explained that he only

goes to certain accounts. That’s different from

Informant 3 who uses hypertext to connect tweets

that exceed the 280-character limit determined by

Twitter.

The process of finding information is more often

obtained through the internet. Informant 3 stated, “it

is more often to get information through the internet

because it is faster and more practical”. This is in

line with Informant 1 who prefers to access

information from the internet, although they have to

be careful with plenty of hoaxes compared to print

media.

Furthermore, the characteristics of Twitter pages

also need to be understood by its users such as: the

availability of original content; interactivity;

immediacy; and integration. Original content can be

seen from original posts that are supported with

auto-hypertext if tweets exceed the character limit.

Besides this, users are also able to use embedded

tweets and embedded timeline features if they want

to link their Twitter page to another web page.

Informant 1 links his Twitter page to his personal

blog page although he doesn’t use the embedded

timeline feature provided by Twitter. Informant 3

often uses hypertext to know the original post of

information gained via Twitter. Furthermore, the

characteristic of interactivity that Twitter has is

proven with some features that support netizen

interaction such as: thread; reply; and follow. All 3

informants also often use these features. Immediacy

can be easily obtained from Twitter due to the speed

of information updates, while integration can be

done from other platforms to Twitter but not the

other way round.

3.3 Content Evaluation:

Browsing the Information Content

The information gained from Twitter cannot be

taken for granted. There are some processes for

understanding certain information in order to obtain

true information in social media. Browsing the

information content requires some abilities such as:

distinguishing the page display and information

content; analysing the information background;

evaluating the web pages; and understanding of

Frequently Asked Questions in a social media

newsgroup.

A Twitter user who has the ability to distinguish

the web page display and information content can be

said to have the competency of content evaluation.

In a web page found via Twitter, users should be

focused on the information content so the perception

is not only affected by the display. But this doesn’t

mean that it is not important to note the web display.

The results of the interviews state that all

informants pay more attention to the information

contents, but often an attractive display makes them

continue to read the information content.

In order to understand the information, Twitter

users need to know its background. Based on

interview data, informants often trace the

information through search engine machines.

Informant 2 explained that he uses Google to verify

the information from Twitter. It can be said that he

has filtered the information as he determines which

account he wanted to follow by considering its

credibility. As Informant 3 stated, the need to

browse the information background is based on from

whom the original post originated and the topic

being read. It can be said that although netizens have

trust in the information on Twitter, still they

continue to identify the information background and

its completeness by using search engines to know

the main source of content dissemination.

Evaluating the related web page for the findings

about information is achieved by looking at

hypertext linked to the Twitter timeline. The

evaluation is useful for knowing the web ownership

origin which is seen from the domain used. Netizens

need to have such knowledge in order to be effective

in determining information about a particular

information provider account that they want to

follow in accordance with their needs and interest.

As one of the social media types that doesn’t

provide a forum or discussion group, Twitter only

Digital Literacy Competencies of Netizens Activities on Twitter

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has the feature of being able to gather netizens

together around a single topic. Accordingly, there is

no indicator for understanding Frequently Asked

Questions in a forum or newsroom.

3.4 Knowledge Assembly:

Enriches Netizen’s Perspective

Gilster (1997) explained that, besides critical

thinking, other competencies needed are assembling

knowledge and building a collection of information

obtained from some different sources. There are

some supporting components for users in compiling

knowledge from information. Re-checking the

information is one of the ways to ensure the

information’s validity. Informant 2 prefers to be

critical and skeptical, as he stated: “in my opinion,

all informations are need to be verified, either it’s

from Twitter or not”. From the statement, it can be

concluded that Informant 2 verifies not only the

information from Twitter but from other sources too.

Although he explained earlier that he trusts

information obtained from Twitter, still he needs to

re-check that information through other media. As

well as this, Informant 3 checks information validity

by browsing the main source of information.

Use of various types of media proves the

information validity. Regarding this, not all

informants use all types of media as a reference to

prove information’s validity. Informant 1 claimed to

believe with all information from Twitter was

reliable because he followed trusted accounts. This

is different from Informants 2 and 3 who verify

information through other media like Google.

Besides the internet, there are television and radio

which can be used as reference media and are more

credible.

Although all informants did not use all types of

media as a reference in checking the information, all

of them claimed that they need a discussion in the

real world regarding information obtained from

Twitter, as Informant 1 stated:

“I discuss about the same information or issue

with friends who have references other than Twitter.

Sometimes my understanding of certain information

is limited, so I need space for discussion which is

with my friends.” This proves that the Informant

who use Twitter to interact and seek information still

needs a place for discussion. Besides, it can be

assumed that knowledge formation around

information relates to strengthening trust towards

information validity, and gaining various

perspectives as well as new findings from organised

knowledge.

4 CONCLUSIONS

In doing their activities on Twitter, netizens have

digital literacy competency which can be seen from

their skill in searching for information on Twitter to

fulfill the curiosity of their interests and they have

also mastered the use of Twitter features which are

useful to support their activity. Furthermore, the use

of hypertext in finding continuous information

shows that the students are capable of understanding

how the hypertext guide works. Netizens are able to

trace the information content. However, the

assessment of information is only carried out on

information that suits their interest. In enriching the

perspective, although netizens have not used all

types of media as a reference in verifying

information’s validity, they often have a discussion

with people around them about information obtained

from Twitter.

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