Social Media Influencer Sharing Tips to Face Religious Conservatism

Jakarta, PPIM – Social media influencer Indra Dwi Prasetyo responded to the increasing religious conservatism in cyberspace, persuading young generation to filter all information they received in social media.

“Do not see social media as a scientific journal [seeing that all it shares are the truth]. Well, it’s social media, It’s not an academic journal,” Indra said on Friday (27/11) in a virtual seminar themed “Religious Moderation and Polarization in Cyberspace”.

The seminar was part of the 15^th virtual talk show series of #ModerasiBeragama (Religious Moderation) organized by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta through Convey Indonesia program.

The Managing Director of ID Next Leader said that in recent days, social media had surprisingly shown polarization. Battles for narratives continued to grow, not only about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic but also religious discourses.

Indra cited the protests against former Jakarta Governor (2014-2017) Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, or Ahok, as an example. The news about Ahok went viral, spreading across social media, both in national and international levels. Indra was of the opinion that such a phenomena was a proof of how social media worked.

“We can see that, for example, the number of content production in social media continues to grow. Each platform, such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and others, play roles in distributing the content of information. The information will be received by [people in] other countries in the same way,” Indra said.

He went on that it was hard to deny that the polarization still existed because of “Echo Chamber” and “Filter Bubble” provided on social media, where users would be given the news or contents that they liked. Therefore, Indra suggested that social media users turn off suggested and autoplay features on their devices.

Indra admitted that filtering information, indeed, was difficult to do due to globalization which had enabled people to freely explore all information they wanted on social media. He described social media as a photo frame, which people can freely see.

At the end of the discussion session, Indra suggested that young generation should not be a “silent majority”. They had to fill the space, take parts in “neutral area”, and be active in discussions about education, leadership and other related issues, but in a way that would not cross religious morality.

“Do not use social media as a contestation arena for smart competition, or as a place to seek valid information. If you need some information, find it on journals and books,” Indra said.

The virtual seminar on Religious Moderation is held every Friday via “Convey Indonesia” official Youtube channel. The discussion, moderated by Convey Indonesian Team Leader Jamhari Makruf, also presented other speakers, such as Iim Halimatus’adiyah, Ph.D, Coordinator of MERIT Program, and Prof. Azyumardi Azra, CBE, a prominent Muslim scholar and a professor at UIN Jakarta.

Writer: Tati Rohayati
Editor: M. Nida’ Fadlan