Australian Journal of Communication, 39(3), 65–86 1 Democracy 2.0: Can social media engage youth and disengaged citizens in the public sphere? Jim Macnamara University of Technology Sydney With the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ attributed at least in part to social media, communication scholars, sociologists and political scientists concerned about a democratic deficit in many countries are looking optimistically to social media to reinvigorate the public sphere. However, research indicates that many claims in relation to social media are over-stated. This article reports critical analysis of five case studies of recent attempts by electoral management bodies in Australia and New Zealand to engage citizens in democratic participation which raises fundamental questions about the agonistic practices of social media and their relevance and role in representative and deliberative democracies. Keywords: Citizen engagement, voter engagement, e-democracy, democracy 2.0, public sphere Introduction Social and political scientists and governments around the world have been concerned for some time about what is described as the democratic deficit (Couldry, 2010, p. 49; Curran, 2011, p. 86), referring to declining citizen interest and participation in democratic politics (Castells, 1998; Curran, 2011; Dahlgren, 2009), declining citizens’ trust in representative institutions and politicians (Gibson, Lusoli & Ward, 2008) and “a growing sense of popular alienation from formal political institutions and processes” (Flew, 2008, p. 83). Australian and international research shows that young people 1 , in particular, are decreasingly interested in traditional forms of democratic political participation such as joining and supporting political parties and voting (Dalton, 2011; Martin, 2012; McAllister, 2011; Saha, Print & Edwards, 2007; Wattenberg, 2006). Furthermore, media audience data indicate that young people are declining users of traditional media (Este et al., 2008; Newspaper Association of America, 2012. Also, Young (2011) has reported that, when young people do access traditional media, they are most likely to do so via online editions. This means that print and broadcast media communication in relation to politics and civic affairs increasingly misses those groups with the lowest participation levels. A number of political parties and government bodies have sought to redress this deficit and reinvigorate the public sphere through use of interactive social media to engage citizens in policy making, consultation and other democratic processes such as elections (Dahlgren, 2009; Flew & Wilson, 2008; Gibson, Williamson & Ward, 2010; Macnamara, 2008, 2010; 2011); Macnamara & Kenning, 2011; Smith & Rainie, 2008). The unprecedented and continuing growth of social media based on what is termed Web 2.0 is undeniable. In mid-2012, Facebook had 955 million active users (Facebook, 2012), four billion videos a day were being viewed on YouTube (YouTube, 2012) and 250 million tweets were being sent every day via microblogging site Twitter (Fenton, 2012, p. 124). Political parties and governments are therefore understandably keen to use social media.