The Construction of Digital Solidarity through Social Media Mediation: A Digital Ethnographic Study of the Info Cegatan Jogja (ICJ) Community

Eva Jessica, Annisa Fikri Nabila, Hidayat Purwanto Jamil, Ananda Syafitri

Abstract


The development of information and communication technology has fundamentally transformed the landscape of social solidarity. Social media has become a new space for the formation of collective bonds that transcend geographical boundaries. This study aims to uncover the construction of digital solidarity through social media mediation in the virtual community of Info Cegatan Jogja (ICJ). ICJ is a community based on a public Facebook group that actively discusses public service obstacles and traffic conditions in the Yogyakarta area. This study employed a qualitative approach with a digital ethnography strategy, using the follow the user and connective ethnography methods. Data were collected through observation across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X platforms, as well as in-depth interviews with the founder, regional coordinators, and community members. The findings reveal that ICJ's digital solidarity is constructed through three mechanisms: the formation of a universe of discourse grounded in shared experiences, the development of adaptive cross-platform digital communication infrastructure, and the production of trust through repeated collective practices. The solidarity that emerges is hybrid in nature, simultaneously combining mechanical and organic solidarity while transcending the dichotomy between digital and physical space.

Keywords


Info Cegatan Jogja; digital solidarity; social worlds; virtual community

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.21107/ilkom.v20i2.34623

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