Social media has acquired an exceptional role in Indonesia’s social, economic, religious, and political life. The country has one the world’s highest number of Facebook subscribers, while Jakarta has previously been dubbed the ‘Twitter capital’ and is arguably the current Instagram capital of the world. Social media platforms are transforming Indonesia in ways that remain poorly understood. They are re-shaping social relations, disrupting and creating new opportunities in business sectors, accommodating new religious forms, practices and communications, transforming modes of activism, and in a more general sense becoming laboratories for new representations and interpretations of social and political identities. At the same time, evidence is mounting that social media is being used to hamper and curtail democratic processes, as vested interest groups and so-called “buzzers” are manipulating public opinion and influencing elections.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together researchers working on the very forefront of these developments by critically examining the considerable and growing impact of social media on Indonesia’s society, economy and politics. With this workshop we will take stock of the state of knowledge with regard to how social media is changing Indonesia and its significance on an international and global scale. We hope, for instance, to discuss the following issues: How does social media affect Indonesia’s democracy? How is the character of citizenship and activism shaped by social media? What is the interaction between social media usage and religious and social engagements, practices, and identities? In what ways are Indonesian livelihoods reorganized by social media marketplaces? How is social media reinforcing or reshaping rural-urban divides? And what methodologies and approaches are best suited to study these phenomena?