Young Mexican university students and the formation of citizenship throught social media

Abstract

This article is a report of a culminated research which focused on the interactions between university students of Michoacan (Mexico), and, on their socialization, negotiation and education skills between peers, through the virtual environment on Facebook. The purpose was to investigate whether these young people are able to promote educational events related to citizenship construction on the civil, social and political dimensions among peers through technology. The social context during the investigation process was marked by a high political activity, through elections, and conditions of constant violence in the environment. The methodology used for monitoring the interactions was qualitative, and it was based on the netnography method, also, some tools of speech analysis were incorporated for studying the recorded conversations, which were reconstructed through the collection, and systematization, of the messages that had been exchanged in a specific group of Facebook. Among other results, there is evidence that young people under observation usually socializes, trough the virtual environment of Facebook, several problems related to the construction of citizenship, especially those problems that are related to their concerns of the society. Despite of the last, there were just a few interactions that promoted an educational act between peers which could promote transformation of meanings.