Environmental Activism and Cyber-advocacy on Social Media: A Case Study from Indonesia

Abstract

This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the functions of social media for ENGOs (Environmental Non-Government Organization). Recently, ENGOs’ presence on social media caught public attention due to the emergence of several offline protests that were initiated online. The research used content analysis on tweets posted by two ENGOs in Indonesia. The results showed that social media was used primarily to build public awareness regarding environmental issues in Indonesia. In this case, ENGOs tries to educate the public on the causes and consequences of environmental problems. One of the issues highlighted is infrastructure development which is currently underway in Indonesia. While infrastructure development fosters long term development, the process has been associated with detrimental effects on the environment. This research also found that the public can act as a vital source of informationon environmental issues. Social media allow the public to connect virtual with the real world , thereby giving them the opportunity to participate in policy debates even in the absence of physical presence. That said, while social media is an important alternative channel for communicating positions and ideals, ENGOs still principally rely on mainstream media to reach a broader public, largely due to the digital divide that prevents certain people from active participation.

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JKAP (Jurnal Kebijakan dan Administrasi Publik)
Vol.25(2), November 2021, 148-166
ISSN 0852-9213 (Print), ISSN 2477-4693 (Online)
Available Online at journal.ugm.ac.id/jkap
Environmental Activism and Social Media Cyber-advocacy:
A Case Study from Indonesia
Nurhadi Susanto
Department of Public Policy and Management, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences,
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
nurhadisusanto@ugm.ac.id
M.H. Thamrin
Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences,
Universitas Sriwijaya, Indonesia
husnithamrin@fisip.unsri.ac.id
Abstract
This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the functions of social media for
ENGOs (Environmental Non-Government Organization). Recently, ENGOs’ presence on social
media caught public attention due to the emergence of several offline protests that were initiated
online. The research used content analysis on tweets posted by two ENGOs in Indonesia. The
results showed that social media was used primarily to build public awareness regarding
environmental issues in Indonesia. In this case, ENGOs tries to educate the public on the causes
and consequences of environmental problems. One of the issues highlighted is infrastructure
development which is currently underway in Indonesia. While infrastructure development fosters
long term development, the process has been associated with detrimental effects on the
environment. This research also found that the public can act as a vital source of informationon
environmental issues. Social media allow the public to connect virtual with the real world ,
thereby giving them the opportunity to participate in policy debates even in the absence of
physical presence. That said, while social media is an important alternative channel for
communicating positions and ideals, ENGOs still principally rely on mainstream media to reach
a broader public, largely due to the digital divide that prevents certain people from active
participation.
Keywords: ENGO; social media; public sphere; online activism; environmental activism

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INTRODUCTION
Environmental problems continue to
receive public attention in various parts of
the world, with improving environmental
governance achieving greater importance for
local, regional, and global communities
(Kurniawan & Rye, 2014). Capitalism has
caused such environmental damage as over-
exploitation of natural resources, loss of
biodiversity, deforestation, and the loss of a
variety of rare animal species (Şen & Şen,
2016). These various problems have sparked
the birth of social movements that have the
common goals of jointly overcoming
environmental problems through
environmental activism.
One of the organizations that conduct
environmental activism are environmental
non-government organization (ENGO).
ENGO plays an important role in mobilizing
the public by drawing their attention to the
need to participate in joint protests that take
advantage of improvements in the reach of
communication channels (McDonald, 2016;
Murphy-Gregory, 2018). Traditionally,
ENGO focused on mobilizing activists,
protesting, lobbying, petitioning, raising
awareness of problems, and encouraging the
appreciation of nature (Karpus, 2018).
ENGO has an important role in advocacy
activities to protect and preserve the
environment by inviting policymakers to
change policies that are not pro-environment
(Kellow, 2000).
Social media allows users (in this
case, ENGO) to build and communicate a
position or stance online (Hemmi &
Crowther, 2013). Social media is an open and
organized forum for deliberative democracy,
or what Habermas (1989) calls a public
sphere, where issues can be discussed freely
(Coleman & Blumler, 2009). Social media
operates through user-generated content by
offering discursive online public spheres and
offers space for those who intend to be
actively involved in politics.
In addition, social media provides
space for social movements to share digital
content from various sources which are then
re-contextualized and distributed (Loader,
2008). The communication which occurs
between the organization and its supporters is
multi-directional, with the organization and
its followers producing and sharing content
to form a whole public opinion (Hemmi &
Crowther, 2013). In the study of
environmental activism, social media
functions as a complementary medium of
traditional media which has become a major
channel of social movements to communicate
issues and campaign against environmental
degradation (Hindmarsh & Luna, 2016).
Besides, social media makes possible the
production of new sources of knowledge
which expand the protest repertoire (Earl &
Kimport, 2011).
The growing practice of using social
media by ENGOs invites researchers to
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explore it, especially in regard to whether it
can attract public attention toward
environmental issues and government
presence and attention to such concerns.
Thus, this study contributes to understanding
the role of new communication media, social
media in particular, in attracting public
involvement in environmental issues. This
study aims to explore the function of social
media in increasing environmental activism
to protect the environment and promote
environmental sustainability. To that end,
research results contribute to understanding
the function and role of social media as a
major component of social communication
that is relevant to the action. The presence of
various environmental problems has led to
the emergence of an online movement and
environmental activism. Claims that social
media increases public involvement is a topic
that has not been explored much in academia.
The potential of social media in
digital environmental activism has attracted
the attention of researchers with keen interest
in environment related issued. The major
issue is whether or not the shift can encourage
the emergency of better environmental
governance. Previous research has focused
more on ENGO’s presence on platforms such
as emails and websites (Kurniawan & Rye,
2014; Pickerill, 2003). Academics have also
examined the use of Facebook by ENGO.
McDonald (2016) explores the contribution
of Facebook to encouraging public
participation in traditional ENGO protest
activities. Other researchers examine user
comments on Facebook which can encourage
online social justice movements which drive
traditional movements (Harlow, 2012; Katz-
Kimchi & Manosevitch, 2015). Nonetheless,
there is no research that explores the use of
social media by ENGO in campaigning for
environmental issues to attract the public
support activities and steps to urge the
government to tackle environment related
problems.
The following section presents
literature review of environmental activism
in the digital era which focuses on the use of
the latest forms of media to campaign for
environmental issues. Research methods is
presented in section three, followed by a brief
description of the ENGO, which is the locus
of this study. Findings and discussion
follows, and the last section presents a
conclusion, and implications of the research
results, limitations and recommendations for
future research .
Environmental Activism in the Digital Age
Social media, environmental activism, and
public sphere
Research on the role of social media
as a public sphere is an emerging field,
which has contributed to making social
media interactive (Kurniawan & Rye, 2014).
Social media is a new representation of the
public sphere because its interactive
technology enables fundamental changes in
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the workings of an organization (Bach &
Stark, 2004). Social media contributes to the
formation of a new public sphere and
potentially also forms new ways of
democracy (Fuchs, 2014; Kruse, Norris, &
Flinchum, 2018). Social media as a public
sphere to participate in a larger framework
must be institutionalized along with the
policy formulation procedure.
Environmental activism through
social media has played an important part in
increasing public involvement in
environmental issues, which turn has
contributed to improvement in
environmental governance ((Katz-Kimchi &
Manosevitch, 2015). This form of activism
includes efforts of individuals or groups who
use social media to ignite discussions,
distribute the latest information, attract
public attention, mobilize the masses, invite
others to sign online petitions, and so on. The
increasing use of social media by
environmental activists marks a shift in social
movements, which use digital
communication tools to maintain and
improve environmental quality and public
awareness of these matters (Kurniawan &
Rye, 2014).
Discussions on social media by the
protestants produce what is called an identity
collectivity that represents public voices.
Social media is the public sphere,which
protest movements use in order to be be
heard by political actors. The collective
actions, according to Bennett & Segerberg
(2012) are driven by the desire to share ideas,
concepts, plans, and resources that have been
internalized with other people’s networks.
The logic of connective action does not
require collective identity, rather it facilitates
participation opportunities that can be
accessed by a diverse audience with minimal
organizational resources (Katz-Kimchi &
Manosevitch, 2015).
Social media has led to the to
expansion of public sphere. Nonetheless, the
digital divide continues to thwart the
immense potential of social (Bohman, 2004;
Gurevitch, Coleman, & Blumler, 2009).
Social media can be used by various groups
in various locations, but most users are
educated middle-class members (Gurevitch
et al., 2009). Therefore, people who do not
have access will continue to rely on
conventional news, which sometimes deliver
superficial information (Gurevitch et al.,
2009). Although social media offers new and
innovative ideas, the power of transformation
is limited. Another challenge is that some
protest movements receive the attention of
the mass media, which covers and publishes
their actions. On the contrary, protest
movements that considered to be disturbing
the ‘peace’tend to gain negative perceptions
from mass media unless they are supported
by strong public opinion (Bennett &
Segerberg, 2012).
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Social movements and ENGO in the digital
age
Social movements on social media
have also been shown to be able to advocate
public interests to encourage political actors
and governments to change regulations,
policies, or make new policies (Hwang &
Kim, 2015; Mundt, Ross, & Burnett, 2018).
Social media enables civil society
organizations to inform, organize, and
motivate the public to act on environmental
issues (Leeder, 2007). Social media as a
public sphere allows ENGO to maintain
direct communication with the public, which
is independent of mass media (Katz-Kimchi
& Manosevitch, 2015).
The platforms which ENGO used to
conduct environmental campaigns in the past
included emails and websites. ENGO created
a website to publish their profiles and
activities (Pickerill, 2003). With the advent
of social media, such as Twitter, Instagram,
Facebook, and other similar platforms, social
movements have begun to use media to
conduct campaigns and protests (Harlow,
2012). This presence does not only change
the way ENGO campaigns on social media
but also the nature of collective action (Earl
& Kimport, 2011). The transformation is
derived from the new logic of action called
the logic of binding action, which is
distinguished from the traditional logic of
collective action (Bennett & Segerberg,
2012). The logic of connective action
emphasizes the recognition of digital media
as an organizing agent for mobilizing public
votes. The emergence of a web-based
community creates new forms of cultural
production and ecological citizenship where
environmental knowledge and environmental
dialogue are shared quickly to a very broad
audience (Rokka & Moisander, 2009).
Social media has facilitated ENGO
and various social movements to fight for
ideas and conception. It is a medium that
diverse individuals and groups use and
leverage to produce creative social relations
and forms of democratic political
possibilities (Kurniawan & Rye, 2014). This
technology significantly influences general
political activity by offering new channels to
participate or modify various aspects that
already exist. Perceptions about participation
costs that were previously considered
expensive are changed because of social
media. At the same time, it increases the
spectrum of political activity.
Cyber-advocacy
Advocacy in the cyber world, or what
some researchers refer to as cyber-advocacy,
is a form of advocacy in which non-
governmental organizations, such as interest
groups, communities, and various
associations and social movement
organizations, work to influence policies and
decision-making procedures (Okura &
Kaigo, 2016). Nongovernmental
organizations play a critical role in the
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policymaking process in a democratic society
(Katz-Kimchi & Manosevitch, 2015; Xu &
Zhang, 2020). They are portrayed as vehicles
that are capable of exerting pressure on the
government to safeguard the interests of
marginalized groups (Han, 2014).
Additionally, the government's response to
the existence of non-governmental
organizations was either positive or bad. The
good answer is that, in addition to advocating
for isolated communities' interests, they also
enable communities to solve a variety of
public challenges (Katz-Kimchi &
Manosevitch, 2015; Zhang & Skoric, 2019).
Non-governmental organizations
advocate through a variety of media, one of
which is social media, where citizens are
present, active, and engaged in discussions
on issues of current public concerns (Luxon,
2019; Zhang & Skoric, 2019). Government
and society are connected via social media,
which is referred to as the public sphere, as it
serves as a conduit for information and
knowledge about public issues and decisions
necessary to address them (Zhang & Skoric,
2018). Non-governmental organizations have
in part been responsible for igniting public
debate on various issues of public concern
and disseminating pertinent knowledge
tailored toward increasing public awareness.
Thus, the two reasons above, besides others,
that are responsible for the high level of
activity of NGOs on social media. Another
factor that contributes to the surge in interest
in social media is the reality that social media
has surpassed traditional mass media as the
preferred medium for transmitting
information from non-governmental
organizations to the political system. In other
words, social media today has become a
sphere and common place that brings
together non-governmental groups,
communities, and governments for dialogue
(Han, 2014).
METHODS
This study is an exploratory study that
seeks to identify the use of social media by
ENGOs. It is a case study of a particular
ENGO located in Indonesia. Specifically, it
analyzes the content of all the tweets of the
ENGO from January to December 2019
based on prior review of the characteristics of
each profile, including the tweets, followers,
following, and the number of likes. Of
various kinds of social media, this study
chose Twitter because WALHI and
Greenpeace Indonesia’s Twitter have the
most followers compared to other social
media. Specifically, this study focused on use
of social media by ENGOs in 2019. The
selection of the year was based on the
consideration that Indonesia experienced a
higher frequency of environmental issues in
2019 than in previous years. Statistics of
deforestation and river pollution demonstrate
that point well. For example, deforestation
grew from 0.44 in 2017-2018 to 0.46 in 2018-
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2019 (Badan Pusat Statistik, 2020) The
number of rivers with moderate to severe
pollution increased from 25 in 2001 to 38 in
2019 (Badan Pusat Statistik, 2020).
Method of collecting data
The dataset in this study consisted of
a collection of tweets obtained through API
Twitter. The tweet data collected included
tweets from the ENGO. The data in this study
were obtained by using web crawling Twitter
API application and Python Tweepy library
that automatically searched for predefined
tweets and time period. Before the process
begun, the system checked the consumer key
and access token to retrieve data from Twitter
since the token data had been registered. The
system then stored the tweets in the MySQL
database, which was then stored in the csv
format to ease interpretation. This stage
resulted in 2834 tweets collected from
January 1st through December 31st, 2019.
Content analysis
Once the tweets were collected, a
content analysis of the tweets was conducted.
The content analysis in this research was
carried out through three stages. First,
reading each tweet to identify the
information published by each ENGO to its
followers. This study did not use categories
that guided the content of the analysis.
Instead, content analysis was based on data.
This was because of efforts to reduce the
subjectivity of the results of the content
analysis (Lewis, Zamith, and Hermida,
2013). Subsequently, the second and third
authors tried to verify the findings from the
initial coding by doing the same thing. The
discussion between the three authors about
the different coding produced new codes that
formed a series of codes that contained the
type of content shared by ENGO. Finally,
code verification was carried out by an author
who is not affiliated with this paper. During
the final stage, the second author examined
and agreed with the type of content
(Bellström, Magnusson, Pettersson, & Sören,
2016). There are two strategies in analyzing
social media content. First, based on
categories that have been developed during
previous research and the second is content
analysis(Krippendorff, 2013). Based on a
review of literature, the authors found no
previous research that attempted to analyze
the content of ENGO activity on social
media. To that end, authors chose to use the
second strategy.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
WALHI, Greenpeace Indonesia and their
presences on digital platforms
Wahana Lingkungan Hidup
Indonesia, commonly called WALHI, is an
independent and non-profit environmental
organization. At present, it has spread its
ideals to almost all areas of Indonesia by
being present in various provinces in
Indonesia. Its main objective is to oversee the
current development by promoting solutions
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to create a sustainable environment and
uphold social justice. Its vision is the
realization of a fair and democratic social,
economic, and political order that can
guarantee the people’s rights to a good source
of life, and the environment.
WALHI utilizes social media for
various purposes to achieve its goals as set
out in the organization’s vision, strategic
plan, and organizational goals. It is present in
various types of social media platforms such
as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and
Twitter. Table 1 shows the profile of WALHI
on each of its social media.
Table 1 shows that WALHI is present
in every popular social media today. Twitter
became the social media that had the most
followers, having 144,125 followers.
Subsequently, WALHI’s Facebook was
followed by 64,531 Facebook users.
Following this, WALHI’s Instagram, which
has distributed 1,096 posts and followed by
26,833. Finally, the WALHI YouTube
account has uploaded 183 videos and has
1,567 subscribers.
Greenpeace is one of the ENGOs
present in Indonesia because the world's
fragile ecosystems require voices, answers,
and action. Greenpeace's long history dates
all the way back to 12 activists who boarded
a ship called the Phyllis Cormack in
Vancouver, Canada to protest the United
States' nuclear bomb test in Alaska.
Greenpeace is guided by four fundamental
values: nonviolent and personally
accountable action, independence, the
absence of permanent opponents or allies,
and the promotion of solutions.
The first value, nonviolent action and
personal accountability, implies that
Greenpeace acts with full awareness and
personal accountability and is committed to
peace, as evidenced by the fact that all
Greenpeace activists who participate in
action get training in peaceful action. The
second value is independence, which means
that Greenpeace will never accept funding
from any government, company, or political
party, as individual donations are the
lifeblood of Greenpeace's mission.
Greenpeace's third value emphasizes the need
of having neither permanent opponents nor
permanent allies. This is because Greenpeace
believes that if a government or business is
Table 1. Adoption of Social Media by WALHI
Source: WALHI‘s Social Media, 2019
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committed to bringing about positive change,
Greenpeace will work to ensure it occurs. The
latter aim is to advocate for solutions in areas
where Greenpeace feels that pressure alone is
insufficient, by developing, conducting
research, and advocating for tangible actions
toward a green and peaceful future for
people.
Greenpeace Indonesia maintains an
active social media presence on platforms
such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram. Greenpeace Indonesia has
accumulated 961,339 followers on Twitter
after sharing 27.4K tweets. Instagram is the
second most popular social media platform,
with 521K followers, and Greenpeace
Indonesia has uploaded 2,460 photographs
and videos on the platform. 427 videos with
58,900 subscribers have been shared on
Youtube. Meanwhile, Greenpeace
Indonesia's Facebook page has amassed an
impressive 806 260 followers
Use of social media by ENGO
This research explores the presence of
ENGOs on social media, especially to
understand information created to encourage
better environmental governance. The
Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia
Article 28 H paragraph (1) clearly states “the
right to a good and healthy environment for
all its citizens”. This right also includes the
right to participate in efforts to create a
sustainable, good and healthy environment.
The right to education about the environment,
access to information, access to participation,
and access to justice are guaranteed in Law
32/2009 Article 65 paragraph (2). The four
rights are the government's obligation to
provide and guarantee its sustainability. The
channels for guaranteeing and fulfilling
rights in the digital era by the government to
their citizens are often unable to meet the
expectations and needs of the problems that
occur. The role of environmental
organizations is significant as a catalyst for
social movements to obtain information and
participate in environmental management,
apart from having a strong legal standing
(Article 92 paragraph (1) of Law 32/2009), it
also has flexibility in capturing and
distributing information from the public.
Specifically, we conducted a content
analysis of WALHI and Greenpeace
Indonesia’s tweets to determine whether they
received the benefits of social media in
environmental communication. Moreover, it
also sought out to determine whether
WALHI and Greenpeace Indonesia make the
best use of social media features to encourage
broader public involvement in environmental
issues. Table 2 presents the types of
information produced by WALHI and
Greenpeace Indonesia. In general, we found
nine categories. The types of information
shared, include building awareness,
promoting events, and criticizing the
government. Meanwhile, the category of
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giving advice, informing past events, and
open donation activities are rarely found.
Of the nine categories, WALHI uses
Twitter mostly to build public awareness of
environmental problems. This type was
found in 34% for WALHI and 43% for
Greenpeace Indonesia of all tweets that were
successfully retrieved. In this category,
WALHI and Greenpeace Indonesia try to
educate the public about the challenges faced
by Indonesia today. In more detail, WALHI
and Greenpeace Indonesia present a critical
analysis of the causes and effects of the
problem, especially by highlighting the
reasons for the absence of the government or
the government’s lack of making the policies
properly.
The next category is marketing the
activities they convene or conduct . This
category includes various kinds of tweets to
invite the public to an event, usually in the
form of a discussion. By considering the
characteristics of social media that can reach
more people, WALHI and Greenpeace
Indonesia use a variety of strategies to
promote its activities. It ranges from using
only words and hashtags to implementing
infographics. This category was found to be
present quite frequently on the WALHI and
Greenpeace Indonesia profile page ,
calculated as much as 17% and 25%
respectively.
The next is the use of social media to
criticize the government. WALHI and
Greenpeace Indonesia also use social media
to express its criticism of the government,
especially when the government applies the
wrong policy or is not present on public issue
that deserve attention. Besides, WALHI and
Greenpeace Indonesia also use Twitter as a
medium to voice allegations of corrupt
practices. It is especially in terms of business
licensing where a permit should not be issued
because it violates one or several rules.
Tweets in this category were found to be 14%
and 5%. Twitter is also used by WALHI and
Greenpeace Indonesia to mobilize the
masses, accounting for 12% and 5%. In this
case, They invite the public to jointly go
down the road to encourage the government
to create better environmental management.
Furthermore, it also encourages online
protests, which are then followed by offline
ones.
Statement of stance category presents
the tweets that show WALHI and
Table 2. Adoption of Social Media by Greenpeace Indonesia
Source: Greenpeace Indonesia’s Social Media, 2019
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Greenpeace Indonesia’s attitude towards
government policies. It accounted for 11%
and 2% of the total tweets that were collected.
Most of the tweets in this category are about
WALHI and Greenpeace Indonesia’s
statements that disagree with the
government. They then held a press
conference that condemned the government
to immediately revoke specific policies
because they endangered the environment
and society.
A critical feature of social media is
the live feature. This feature allows users to
see a video shot directly by the account owner
without having to be on the site. This
category is called going live, which shows
the use of live features by WALHI and
Greenpeace Indonesia, especially in
organizing discussions. This category found
as much as 8% and 18% of the total tweets.
Through this category, the followers can
discuss matters in real time, even though they
are in different locations. Three last
categories are giving advice (3% and 12%),
informing past activities (2% and 15%), and
collecting donations (1% and 2%). The
category of giving advice contains specific
actions that the government must take as soon
as possible. Social media is also used by
WALHI and Greenpeace Indonesia to inform
past activities. Finally, there is an invitation
to open donations to finance certain activities
The issues tweeted
In addition to the tweet category, we
also collected any environmental cases
discussed through Twitter, as shown in Table
3. Most examples are the construction of
public infrastructures, such as toll roads and
power plants, that harm the environment and
the people living near the construction site.
Also, the process of land conversion that is
deemed unfair. Following this is the issue of
forestry, mainly related to forest conversion.
The agrarian category contains land conflicts,
Table 3. Categories of Information Produced by WALHI dan Greenpeace Indonesia
Source: processed by author, 2020
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mainly between companies and communities.
Violence against environmental activists that
is still happening is also voiced by WALHI
and Greenpeace Indonesia through their
social media. Afterward is the mining
category that contains mining cases,
especially coal.
Environmental cases discussed
further are water and air pollution, peatland
fires, plantations, waste, land ownership, and
licensing and investment. In the category of
water and air pollution, They voiced about
the condition of air and water in Indonesia in
several polluted areas. Peatlands, especially
in the dry season, become a hot topic,
especially related to peat fires that cause
smoke. Plantations, especially oil palm
plantations, which often cause social
conflicts, are also discussed. Issues that are
rarely discussed include waste issues, land
ownership, and licensing and investment.
Discussion
Social media can expand
communication channels with the outside
world, which in turn can lead to the discovery
of new and more effective ways to participate
in the political process (Hemmi & Crowther,
2013; Stewart & Schultze, 2019). The
findings in this study support this by showing
that ENGO uses social media primarily to
build public awareness of environmental
issues. ENGO, through its Twitter account,
provides an understanding of the public about
the causes and consequences of a case of
confusion and the role of governments that
are not present or protect corporate interests.
This research collaborates the
statement that for ENGOs, information and
communication technology can encourage
more extensive public participation found
only through emails and websites in previous
studies (Kurniawan & Rye, 2014; Polat,
Table 4. Issues Discussed on Social Media
Source: processed by author, 2020
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160
2005). It found that social media
characteristics can convey information and
coordinate activities. Initially, ENGO only
used websites and emails, which had various
limitations (Katz-Kimchi & Manosevitch,
2015). Massive adoption of social media by
both the public and organizations allows
ENGO to be free from dependence on the
news media. Moreover, they can provide
platforms independently to mobilize active
support and involvement of the community.
Society not only plays a passive role; it can
also generalize information to gain complete
knowledge of an environment.
Communication on social media can
involve several types of social coordination,
which then encourage negotiations,
standardization, and adjust government
policies (Castells, 2015). However, this
research found no evidence of this. Social
media for WALHI was to build public
awareness of the environment, including
government mistakes in making policies.
Despite that, social media plays an important
role in strengthening the work of
organizations, such as by sharing various
kinds of promotion for WALHI activities.
Therefore, this research is in line with the
finding that social media, in some cases, is
also used to coordinate activities by
mobilizing the public in discussion and
campaign activities (Hermida & Hernández-
Santaolalla, 2018; Milan, 2015).
This research also found that ENGO
has created a public sphere for participation
and exchange of ideas. For ENGO, social
media is an alternative arena to present the
public sphere to discuss various
environmental issues. It is an alternative
communication medium for political
deliberations on environmental issues. It
encourages activists to express their ideas
and attract broader public support
(Kurniawan & Rye, 2014; Ross & Bürger,
2014). This research discovered that ENGO
use social media to increase public awareness
about environmental issues, especially
regarding government actions through
various policy instruments that are often not
in favor of the environment and the public.
Although ENGO actively uses its
social media to voice environmental
problems, online activism may be cut off
from the reality of environmental policy. It is
because online activism is entirely dependent
on offline ones (Hermida & Hernández-
Santaolalla, 2018; Kurniawan & Rye, 2014).
ENGO uses its social media to mobilize the
public to protest both in a case or the
accumulation of the government’s absence in
a case and the government’s favoring of the
corporation.
This study demonstrates that ENGO
in Indonesia uses social media as an essential
tool to meet various objectives in online
activism. ENGO uses its social media to
break through geographical boundaries by
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161
using live features. Therefore, people who
cannot attend a discussion can still contribute
actively (Katz-Kimchi & Manosevitch, 2015;
Milan, 2015). Furthermore, to invite broader
public involvement, ENGO uses social media
for marketing its activities by sending tweets
containing invitations to participate.
Traditionally-conducted campaigns
to raise public awareness of an environmental
issue rely on the news media to put an issue
on the policy agenda and to mobilize the
wider public. Meanwhile, internal public
involvement is limited to passive public
opinion and fundraising dana (Katz-Kimchi
& Manosevitch, 2015).That said, in line with
the findings of Katz-Kimchi & Manosevitch,
(2015) as seen from ENGOs’ customary way
of sharing online news links, ENGO might
still view mainstream media as relevant to
attract public and government attention
(Gritten & Kant, 2007; Jolley & Rickards,
2020; Xu & Zhang, 2020). The presence of
ENGO in public indicates that the public is
an active group. They can be driven by
specific communications that are generated
in their consciousness (Bennett & Segerberg,
2012).
In the era of social media,
environmental activism and cyber-advocacy
have become a lot easier. Social media
platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter,
have been utilized by environmental activists
in Indonesia to spread information about
environmental issues not only to their spheres
of influence but also to a much wider
audience (Zhang & Skoric, 2019). We found
that Indonesian ENGOs like Walhi and
Greenpeace Indonesia have strong presence
on Social Media by publishing
environmental-related news items, opinion
articles and commentary notes on their
account. They also run campaigns to raise
awareness about environmental issues such
as fundraising campaigns, petitions, voting
polls and mobile calling applications.
Another thing that ENGO has been
doing is creating a digital public sphere by
using social media. They do this because
ENGO believes that digital communication is
playing an important role in providing
information about environment issues. It also
empowers citizens to be more open in
communicating about environment issues
and in influencing the actions of the
government (Han, 2014; Zhang & Skoric,
2019).
CONCLUSION
This study aimed to explore the use of
social media by ENGOs, especially to
determine whether or not social media can
be a viable alternative to changing public
view and perception e about environmental
issues. The results showed that for ENGOs,
the role social media plays is more than what
has been documented in previous research as
a medium for disseminating information to
the public about environmental issues. This
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162
research also found that the public can be a
group that participates in providing
information to obtain a complete picture of a
particular environmental issue. Social media
helps to break through the conventional
boundaries thereby enabling the public to
participate in activities without their being
physically present. That said, although social
media is an alternative channel to
communicate stances and ideals, ENGOs still
rely on the mainstream media to reach a
wider public, primarily because of the digital
divide which inhibits some people from
participating.
This research utilized a content
analysis method that captures the information
shared by ENGOs to communicate their
idealism. In the future, to gain a complete
picture, an interview with an ENGO should
be be conducted. In addition, this research
only focused on Twitter, primarily to see how
an ENGO builds dialogical communication
with the public. Future research should look
at other social media to obtain different kinds
of social media characteristics and their
impact on the public. Finally, research need
to be conducted on assessing public reaction
to an online campaign conducted by ENGOs,
especially to explore whether or not ocial
media is able to shift public belief and
perception to empathize with a certain cause.
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