Limitations of New Media

1, new media technologies may have little impact on politics, even change politics for the worse. It has little effect on civic engagement. New media technologies increased political knowledge among citizens already interested in politics, for users who are not, public sphere online is meaningless. Social media activists are more democratic, more knowledgeable about current political events and also somewhat more understanding of anti-government sentiment. As the new media technologies provide a platform to talk without consequence and response, they have been widely used by extreme groups to shape the citizenship and distort democracy. Such as 2011 England riots, the event was also called "BlackBerry riots" because people used mobile devices and social media such as twitter and facebook to organise. This issue was launched majority by young people, who face the fierce competition and huge employment pressure. They are also the primary users of the social media network. In this issue, two man , 20 year old Jordan Blackshaw and 22 year old Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan had been sentenced to 4 years in jail for attempting to use Facebook to “ organize and orchestrate” disorder. Blackshaw created a Fackbook event Smash Down Northwich Town, Sutcliffe-Keenan also set up a page encouraging rioting in Warrington. As Assistant Chief Constable Phil Thompson warned, “The sentences passed down today recognize how technology can be abused to incite criminal activity, and send a strong message to potential troublemakers about the extent to which ordionary people value safety and order in their lives and their communities.” As shown in the London riots, Twitter users send a message to millions. So Tendentious information and hate speech of the extremists can also spread quickly on the twitter, it would stimulate public dissatisfactions of government and make more people who don’t know the truth fear and anger. So openness and freedom of the online platform provided by new media