Social Media Usage for Peace Process Communication of People’s Organizations in the Deep South of Thailand

Abstract

This study analyzed social media of people’s organization in deep south of Thailand. Content analysis method was applied in this research to identify patterns of peace process communication in social media. 42 Facebook fanpages were purposively selected based on specified characteristics including 1) having been updated continuously throughout a six-months period; 2) having at least 300 followers; and 3) being the organizations’ official fanpages.
To assure the validity of the data, triangulation analysis was employed. The statistic employed were percentage and mean through SPSS.

            The results revealed that 42 people’s organizations which had their official fanpages could be divided into five groups: non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, media and local news agencies, student groups/student networks, and community organizations. Each organization aimed at helping people (23.8%), promoting roles of children and women (21.4%), producing media and news related to the deep south of Thailand (14.3%), and supporting peace process (7.1%), respectively. Most of the contents were mainly about promoting activities of the organizations themselves. Among these 42 organizations' fanpages, only seven of them including Media selatan, Wartani, Klum Naksuksa Changwat Chai Dan Paktai (P.N.Y.S.), Saiburi Looker, Patani Forum, Student Wing Thai Islamic Medical Association, Khao Paktai Chai Dan had more than 10,000 followers. Facebook Live was an effective way to get followers' interactions with the pages through liking, sharing, and commenting. Additionally, most of the contents on fanpages were indirectly focused on peace process, while only a few were directly related to it.