Social representations of social media at romanian teenagers. European integration through the internet

Social media and European Union are two realities of the present that have undoubtedly brought major changes in society in terms of communication, intergroup relations and identity negotiation. The power relations between social media and European Union have become so great that a change from one side is immediately felt on the other side, and more important is that the two together define the present and build the future. It is a complex process, especially since European integration is resisting nationalist politics, and the Internet is drastically regulated even by the European Union, as it has never been before. Thus, inevitably, new aspects of social life arise, with which people need to get familiarized in order to shape a common sense. Therefore, we investigated the social representation of social media at Romanian teenagers, demonstrating through this research that it has mostly positive elements, but which are under the threat of new Internet regulations. If we also consider the process of European integration, social media can represent a strong link between the European Union and Romania, helping create a good European identity, despite the national sovereignty that has been promoted. The research was based on a structured questionnaire, Associative Network Technique with four stimuli (“Me”, “Social Media”, “European Union”, “Romania”), YouTube video analysis, and text mining on Facebook.