IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i9p2697-d230469.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Social Media Can Foster Social Innovation in Disadvantaged Rural Communities

Author

Listed:
  • Kenichiro Onitsuka

    (Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan)

Abstract

Social innovation has received widespread attention in the rural development field, especially its contribution to future rural sustainability. Social innovation revolves around social networks. Rural areas, however, can be relatively disadvantaged by their geographical peripherality. Social media, therefore, has strong potential to foster social innovation by enabling remote communication, but in rural areas, social media use may be low because of an aging and decreasing population. This study examined community-level adoption and use of social media in rural areas in Japan, with a focus on Facebook, for the purpose of sharing community information and facilitating networking with a variety of actors to promote rural social innovation. The study involved a comprehensive search and case studies targeting 139,063 rural communities and 10,922 rural joint-communities, all of which are legally designated agricultural communities throughout Japan. The search found that disadvantaged rural communities’ adoption of Facebook was scarce, and most of the communities that had adopted Facebook did not expand their social networks. Furthermore, investigation into the communities that had adopted social networking to a larger extent revealed that external supporters or migrants had essential roles in successful networking. Based on the obtained findings, this study has provided insights for future policy design.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenichiro Onitsuka, 2019. "How Social Media Can Foster Social Innovation in Disadvantaged Rural Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-24, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:9:p:2697-:d:230469
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2697/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2697/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leanne Townsend & Arjuna Sathiaseelan & Gorry Fairhurst & Claire Wallace, 2013. "Enhanced broadband access as a solution to the social and economic problems of the rural digital divide," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 28(6), pages 580-595, September.
    2. Bock, Bettina B., 2012. "Social innovation and sustainability; how to disentangle the buzzword and its application in the field of agriculture and rural development," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 114(2), pages 1-7, October.
    3. Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994. "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 14-37, February.
    4. Paul DiMaggio & Eszter Hargittai, 2001. "From the 'Digital Divide' to 'Digital Inequality': Studying Internet Use as Penetration Increases," Working Papers 47, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies..
    5. Strover, Sharon, 2001. "Rural internet connectivity," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 331-347, June.
    6. Brian Whitacre & Roberto Gallardo & Sharon Strover, 2014. "Does rural broadband impact jobs and income? Evidence from spatial and first-differenced regressions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(3), pages 649-670, November.
    7. Oscar José Rover & Bernardo Corrado De Gennaro & Luigi Roselli, 2016. "Social Innovation and Sustainable Rural Development: The Case of a Brazilian Agroecology Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Brian E. Whitacre & Bradford F. Mills, 2007. "Infrastructure and the Rural—urban Divide in High-speed Residential Internet Access," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 30(3), pages 249-273, July.
    9. Pol, Eduardo & Ville, Simon, 2009. "Social innovation: Buzz word or enduring term?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 878-885, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Polyxeni Vassilakopoulou & Eli Hustad, 2023. "Bridging Digital Divides: a Literature Review and Research Agenda for Information Systems Research," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 955-969, June.
    2. Pattanapong Tiwasing, 2021. "Social media business networks and SME performance: A rural–urban comparative analysis," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 1892-1913, September.
    3. Susana B. Guerrero-Ocampo & José M. Díaz-Puente, 2023. "Social Network Analysis Uses and Contributions to Innovation Initiatives in Rural Areas: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Lisha Ye & Huiqin Yang, 2020. "From Digital Divide to Social Inclusion: A Tale of Mobile Platform Empowerment in Rural Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, March.
    5. Meinan Chen & Ruiying Shen, 2023. "Rural Settlement Development in Western China: Risk, Vulnerability, and Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-20, January.
    6. Rista Ardy Priatama & Kenichiro Onitsuka & Ernan Rustiadi & Satoshi Hoshino, 2019. "Social Interaction of Indonesian Rural Youths in the Internet Age," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dinterman, Robert & Renkow, Mitch, 2017. "Evaluation of USDA's Broadband Loan Program: Impacts on broadband provision," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 140-153.
    2. Sriroop Chaudhuri & Mimi Roy & Louis M. McDonald & Yves Emendack, 2021. "Reflections on farmers’ social networks: a means for sustainable agricultural development?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 2973-3008, March.
    3. Ivana Živojinović & Alice Ludvig & Karl Hogl, 2019. "Social Innovation to Sustain Rural Communities: Overcoming Institutional Challenges in Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-27, December.
    4. Whitacre, Brian & Gallardo, Roberto, 2020. "State broadband policy: Impacts on availability," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(9).
    5. Brian Whitacre & Roberto Gallardo & Sharon Strover, 2014. "Does rural broadband impact jobs and income? Evidence from spatial and first-differenced regressions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(3), pages 649-670, November.
    6. Schleife, Katrin, 2010. "What really matters: Regional versus individual determinants of the digital divide in Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 173-185, February.
    7. Ludvig, Alice & Sarkki, Simo & Weiss, Gerhard & Živojinović, Ivana, 2021. "Policy impacts on social innovation in forestry and back: Institutional change as a driver and outcome," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    8. Marina Novikova, 2022. "Social Innovation Impacts and Their Assessment: An Exploratory Study of a Social Innovation Initiative from a Portuguese Rural Region," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-24, March.
    9. Manlove, Jacob & Whitacre, Brian, 2019. "An evaluation of the Connected Nation broadband adoption program," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1-1.
    10. Ludvig, Alice & Weiss, Gerhard & Sarkki, Simo & Nijnik, Maria & Živojinović, Ivana, 2018. "Mapping European and forest related policies supporting social innovation for rural settings," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 146-152.
    11. Mora-Rivera, Jorge & García-Mora, Fernando, 2021. "Internet access and poverty reduction: Evidence from rural and urban Mexico," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    12. Novikova Marina & de Fátima Ferreiro Maria & Stryjakiewicz Tadeusz, 2020. "Local Development Initiatives as Promoters of Social Innovation: Evidence from Two European Rural Regions," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 39(2), pages 43-53, June.
    13. Noor, Nur Hanis Mohamad & Ng, Boon-Kwee & Hamid, Mohd Johaary Abdul, 2020. "Forging researchers-farmers partnership in public social innovation: a case study of Malaysia’s agro-based public research institution," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 23(4), June.
    14. Brian Whitacre, 2008. "Factors influencing the temporal diffusion of broadband adoption: evidence from Oklahoma," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 42(3), pages 661-679, September.
    15. Gerli, Paolo & Whalley, Jason, 2018. "Fibre to the countryside: A comparison of public and community initiatives in the UK," 29th European Regional ITS Conference, Trento 2018 184941, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    16. Kenichiro Onitsuka & Kento Ninomiya & Satoshi Hoshino, 2018. "Potential of 3D Visualization for Collaborative Rural Landscape Planning with Remote Participants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-24, August.
    17. Navío-Marco, Julio & Pérez-Leal, Raquel & Ruiz-Gómez, Luis Manuel, 2019. "Analysis of the WiFi4EU initiative as a potential instrument to correct digital divide in rural areas in the EU," 30th European Regional ITS Conference, Helsinki 2019 205200, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    18. Whitacre, Brian & Rhinesmith, Colin, 2016. "Broadband un-adopters," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 1-13.
    19. Živojinović, Ivana & Rogelja, Todora & Weiss, Gerhard & Ludvig, Alice & Secco, Laura, 2023. "Institutional structures impeding forest-based social innovation in Serbia and Slovenia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    20. Deller, Steven & Whitacre, Brian, 2018. "Broadband’s Relationship to Rural Housing Values," Staff Paper Series 591, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:9:p:2697-:d:230469. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.