Youth are often described as pioneers when it comes to the adoption of new technologies and this is true in New Zealand. According to a Research New Zealand survey conducted in 2009, 91% of 15-24 year olds in New Zealand own or have access to the internet (Fryer et al., 2009). Even more significant is that 93% of young people who own a computer with internet access used it within two weeks of the study and 76% used it daily over that period (Fryer et al., 2009). With youth leading the way as users of Information Communication Technology (ICT) local government has the ability to leverage these technologies to help engage young people.
While engaging with local government is obviously not the main reason that young people use new media, it still has an important role to play. 88% of respondents to a 2009 State Services Commission survey on online use and government stated that they had used eGovernment services to obtain information, while 54% had used online tools or application forms, 40% had paid for something online, 39% had applied for something, and 29% had submitted information or a return (State Services Commission, 2009).
When you look at youth’s social networking use there are even more significant findings. 76% of 15-24 year olds surveyed by Research New Zealand use the internet for social networking (Fryer et al., 2009), which worldwide is a significant proportion. A Pew Institute survey on politically-based internet use found that civic involvement on social networking and blog sites by young people was significantly higher than their use of traditional forms of internet-based civic engagement; such as emailing a public official (Smith et al., 2009). The significant finding from this survey was that those under the age of 25 constituted just 10% of the total survey respondents but equated to 40% of those who make political use of social networking sites and 29% of those who post comments or visual material about politics online (Smith et al., 2009).
These findings suggest that young people are active users of new media, with a significant amount of youths using these channels to engage with politics. But does this associate itself with high levels of support for eGovernment’s use among young people? Gauld et al.’s (2010) survey on the demand-side of politics would support the notion that it does. They contend that people who use new media are significantly more likely to use and support the use of eGovernment. In addition these people are more likely to favour eGovernment as their main form of engaging with local government (Gauld et al., 2010). As the majority of youth in New Zealand use new media it is highly likely that this support for eGovernment will extend to them (Fryer et al., 2009).
Many scholars have worried about the effect of a ‘digital divide’ on political engagement (Hindman, 2009; Gauld et al., 2010; Xenos and Moy, 2007). This refers to a situation where the ‘information-rich’ or those that have access to technology and the knowledge of how use it become increasingly more engaged with local government and therefore ‘information-richer’, while the ‘information poor’ or those without access to technology or expertise become ‘information-poorer’ (Hindman 2009; Xenos and Moy, 2007). While this is a noted phenomenon which has a significant impact on political efficacy (‘information poor’ with access to technology become even more disillusioned with politics), research has shown that this is not a widespread concern in New Zealand (Gauld et al., 2010). Political engagement by New Zealanders through new media is revealed to be not significantly affected by socio-economic status, sex, ethnicity or education (the typical signifiers of a digital divide). Rather the discrepancies in new media use are affected more by age and location, with young urban people more likely to use new media (Gauld et al., 2010). In relation to this report, age and location are of little significant as it is focussed on engaging Auckland youth; who are largely urban-based (Shand et al., 2009) with local government.
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