Netizens are people who participate in the larger internet society by contributing to specific interest groups and organizing through internet resources. They can achieve big or frivolous goals and have become a powerful force in politics. The internet offers the opportunity to be a citizen of the world.
In 2006, Time Magazine made an interesting choice for Person of the Year. The persona was “you” which means more specifically, people who use the internet to write articles, post videos or blogs, and contribute to different internet groups. Essentially, the “you” was referring to another word that has become more frequently used in recent years, “netizen.” A netizen is a person who becomes a part of and participates in the larger Internet society, which recognizes few boundaries except language. The word comes from combining the terms internet and citizen.
Netizens can contribute to specific groups around their interest, which can vary significantly. Usergroups might have a political focus, be based on fan interest in a person, movie, or book. They are usually specific to a certain topic and are driven by the participation of netizens. It would be hard to imagine a successful user group or blog where no discussion has taken place.
Netizens can also organize a group through a variety of different Internet resources to accomplish something. In the 1990s, The Children’s Health Information Network (TCHIN), an online community, used user participation on and off the Internet to petition the governors of every state to declare February 14 as Children’s Day. awareness of congenital heart disease. Since the netizens in this group came from all over the United States, it was quite easy to find people to petition for this cause. Within a year or two, most states issued proclamations for a CHD day on February 14th. Since these proclamations sometimes had to be declared by state governors each year, netizens from the same state collaborated to file the necessary legal petitions on an annual basis.
A netizen doesn’t always have to accomplish something big, vital, or important. Some trends in internet groups are to do something completely frivolous. For example, TV personality and comedic reporter, Stephen Colbert, used his network fans to have his name affixed to various new buildings or given to endangered animals. Through his show and his website, Colbert initiates various campaigns that tend to be successful and achieve very silly goals.
Politicians have certainly come to realize the power of the internet to organize people, and you won’t find many political candidates for higher office who don’t have a significant internet presence. They use the Internet to campaign, explain their positions on issues, to rally interested netizens, to ask for their volunteer work and donations, and to inform people of upcoming events. A netizen could be an active participant in the political process in a way not possible when most contact with people at a distance from each other was reduced to phone calls.
Today what a netizen contributes to one group can be read and seen by a much larger group of people and can be influential. Sites that rate new blogs or articles, such as Digg.com, help other people evaluate which articles are most valuable or important. It’s quite an accomplishment for a netizen to create something that is “debunked” by a number of people. This means that many people will see this netizen’s creation.
The internet has been referred to as the global community, and it is true to an extent that people from different countries are able to participate in the internet and perhaps achieve global goals. Language and strong political beliefs can divide the global community, but at its best, the Internet offers the netizen the opportunity to more fully be a citizen of the world, as well as a citizen of their own country.
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