The Liberating Potential of Social Media in the Philippine Context

Abstract

This qualitative study on the liberating potential of social media in the Philippines used the Grounded Theory design which utilized information from the ground to come up with a developing theory that describes an evolving phenomenon involving the Filipino's way of navigating the sphere of virtual communication. The findings in this study were anchored on a well represented cross section of the population in terms of generation, gender, social status and experiences. It utilized the linear snowball sampling which resulted in 10 participants who contributed in the making of meaning. The research questions revolved around social media and the shape of this phenomenon in the Philippine context and whether it indeed enabled individuals and communities to overcome their sense of powerlessness and lack of influence, take advantage of the blurring of borders and thus achieve personal and social liberation. The resulting theory is the Theory of Virtual Deliverance which posits that social media has become a contemporary liberating tool that is potentially effective in addressing social ills in acceptable ways that somehow manage to circumvent existing structures, specifically in a community like the Philippines where they tend to be perceived as unequal, discriminatory and oppressive. Participant accounts support that the Filipino's notion of liberation is the very definition of deliverance mentioned as 'kaluwasan', which is the action of being rescued and set free in a way that involves faith and an effort to overcome fate. The virtual space that social media offers has somehow provided a redefined leverage not only to those with means but especially to those who have very little leverage in their actual physical space.