THE ROLE OF VIRAL VIDEO IN INDONESIAN POLITICS

Authors

  • Pratiwi Utami Monash University, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14203/jmb.v19i3.548

Keywords:

Al-Maida 51, political communication, social media logic, virality, viral video, Al-Maidah 51, komunikasi politik, logika media sosial, viralitas, video viral

Abstract

Social media offers the wide availability and facility to exchange information. It provides space for people to aggregate around common interests and narratives. At given situations, content can spread rapidly across networks and go viral. This paper attempts to reveal the meaning and the role of viral video in Indonesia’s contemporary politics, using Al-Maida 51 viral video as the case study. To achieve that, this paper utilises an archival analysis of videos and documents to investigate what components constitute virality. Basing on the theory and the logic of “viralityâ€, this paper examines the key factors that allow a video to go viral generally and in the specific context of Indonesia. This article also provides a comparison between viral political video with documentary video and news video viewed from production, distribution, and consumption perspectives. The comparison suggests that viral video is not just a message or product, but a medium for other messages. Viral videos are platforms of ideas and they open the opportunities for new values and interpretations as well as different forms of political participation. The study concludes that user’s intervention in media-making process is important; in the case of the Al-Maida 51 viral video, a user’s specific intervention can lead a shift from a documentary work to a piece of video with political impact. Furthermore, users’ contribution in spreading a video and adding their personal comment about it in their post is indicative to the role of the users as intermediaries who might not create the virality, but can stimulate it. Media sosial daring menawarkan fasilitas dan kemudahan dalam proses pertukaran informasi, orang-orang dengan kesamaan minat dan nilai dapat berkumpul dan berinteraksi. Dalam beberapa situasi, informasi dapat beredar dengan cepat dan lintas jejaring, sehingga menjadi viral. Tulisan ini ingin menelisik makna dan peran video viral dalam praktik politik kontemporer di Indonesia, dengan menggunakan kasus video viral “Al-Maidah 51â€sebagai contoh kasus. Tulisan ini menggunakan teori dan logika “virality†milik Nahon dan Hemsley (2013) dan menganalisis video viral di internet untuk melihat faktor-faktor kunci yang menentukan sebuah video dapat menjadi viral, baik secara umum maupun dalam konteks spesifik di Indonesia. Tulisan ini juga menyajikan perbandingan antara video politik viral dengan video dokumenter dan video berita dari perspektif produksi, distribusi, dan konsumsi. Perbandingan tersebut menunjukkan bahwa video viral bukan sekadar pesan atau produk media sosial, tetapi juga merupakan medium itu sendiri. Ia merupakan platform gagasan yang membuka peluang atas hadirnya nilai-nilai dan interpretasi baru atas sebuah pesan, serta menunjukkan adanya partisipasi politik dalam wujud yang lain. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa intervensi pengguna media sosial dalam proses produksi, distribusi, dan konsumsi pesan dapat dipandang sebagai partisipasi politik dan karenanya menjadi penting. Dalam kasus video Al-Maidah 51, intervensi tertentu dari pengguna dapat mengubah peran sebuah video dari yang semata produk dokumentasi menjadi potongan video pendek yang memiliki dampak politis. Lebih lanjut, kontribusi pengguna dalam menyebarkan video sambil menambahkan komentar di akun pribadi media sosial mereka mengindikasikan adanya fungsi intermediasi yang dijalankan oleh para pengguna. Artinya, pengguna media sosial daring mungkin tidak selalu bisa menciptakan viralitas, tetapi bisa menstimulasi terjadinya konten yang beredar viral.

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Published

2018-02-28

Issue

Section

ARTICLES