Beyond the Hashtags: #Ferguson, #Blacklivesmatter, and the Online Struggle for Offline Justice

Freelon, Deen; McIlwain, Charlton D.; Clark, Meredith D.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2747066

Cited by 304 publications

(332 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Thus, future research would benefit from examining how rhetoric is used for the management of identities and social movements over a longer time frame and in different contexts. Newer methods, such as big data analytics and computational social science (e.g., Anderson & Hitlin, ; De Choudhury et al ., ; Freelon et al ., ), would suit these aims. Whereas smaller data sets are more suitable for qualitative analysis of rhetoric, big data can be employed to take account of the scale of social media data, for example examining change over time and the spread of content across networks (e.g., Nagler & Tucker, ; Procter, Vis, & Voss, ; Smith, McGarty, & Thomas, ; Tinati, Halford, Carr, & Pope, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whose tweets? The rhetorical functions of social media use in developing the Black Lives Matter movement

Wilkins

Livingstone

Levine

2019

British J Social Psychol

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Research on collective action frequently characterizes social media as a tool for mobilization. However, social media activity can fulfil a variety of different functions for social change. In particular, the rhetorical functions of social media use by social movements are not well understood. We address this shortfall by analysing the rhetorical functions of Twitter use during an early stage of the Black Lives Matter social movement. We examine how activists used Twitter to balance competing aims for social change, such as growing the movement beyond disadvantaged‐group members, while preventing appropriation or dilution of their message by advantaged‐group ‘allies’. We find that although Twitter users promote different, and often competing, definitions of the issues that the movement represents, rhetorical strategies are used to advance inclusive definitions that focus on racism. When activists address alternative definitions of movement actors and issues, representations of Otherness are used to characterize the proponents of these definitions as in opposition to the movement. Finally, we find that one way of resolving the tension between growing the movement and promoting disadvantaged‐group control is by using identity and technology resources to explicitly define (1) how different groups can be movement advocates, and (2) action strategies for social change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whose tweets? The rhetorical functions of social media use in developing the Black Lives Matter movement

Wilkins

Livingstone

Levine

2019

British J Social Psychol

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“…Similarly, Tinati and colleagues () also note how social networking sites, such as Twitter, have expanded the opportunities for activists to mobilize, inform, and connect diverse networks of people. These findings are echoed across a number of social movements, including the Occupy Wall Street (Benski, Langman, Perugorria, and Tejerina 2013) and the Black Lives Matter movements in the United States (Freelon et al ) as well as the 2011 UK riots (Tinati et al ), demonstrating how discontented citizens leveraged social media to engage their communities and to legitimize their message with a global audience.…”

Section: Sociological Concerns and Social Mediamentioning

confidence: 97%

What We Are Talking About When We Talk About Social Media: A Framework for Study

et al. 2016

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Social media continues to grow as a focus of social, organizational, and scholarly interest, yet there is little agreement as to what constitutes social media and how it can be effectively analyzed. We review various definitions of social media and note that much of the confusion regarding social media comes from conflation between social media types, platforms, and activities. To facilitate investigations of social media, we debunk common social media myths and review the relationship between social media and several prominent sociological concerns. We conclude by reflecting on directions for future research on social media.

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“…While acknowledging the difficulty of precisely gauging social media's impact, existing research suggests that it has been decisive in propelling stories of police abuse into national prominence, with BLM having demonstrable effects on public opinion and protests at the local and national level (Anderson & Hitlin, ; Rickford, ). In their analysis of 40.8 million tweets containing #BlackLivesMatter, Freelon et al () found supporters of BLM successfully exploited weak ties and penetrated non‐activist networks, reaching a wider cross section of society and transcending social media's all too frequent status as an echo chamber and “information cocoon” (Sunstein, ).…”

Section: The Public's Use Of Social Media: Countersurveillance and Nementioning

confidence: 99%

Social media and policing: A review of recent research

Walsh

O’Connor

2018

Sociology Compass

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Studies of social media's impact on policing have emerged in several disciplines, including criminology, sociology, and communications. Despite their insight, there is no unified body of knowledge regarding this relationship. In an attempt to synthesize extant work, bring coherence to the field, and orient future scholarship, this article summarizes research on social media's implications for practices and perceptions of order maintenance. It does so by identifying how social media's technical affordances empower and constrain police services. By offering new opportunities for surveillance, risk communication, and impression management, emergent technologies augment the police's control of their public visibility and that of the social world. However, they also provide unprecedented capacities to monitor the police and expose, circulate, and mobilize around perceived injustice, whether brutality, racial profiling, or other forms of indiscretion. Considering these issues promises to enhance knowledge on contemporary directions in social control, organizational communication, inequality, and collective action. Suggestions for future research are also explored.

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Beyond the Hashtags: #Ferguson, #Blacklivesmatter, and the Online Struggle for Offline Justice

Cited by 304 publications

References 3 publications

Whose tweets? The rhetorical functions of social media use in developing the Black Lives Matter movement

Whose tweets? The rhetorical functions of social media use in developing the Black Lives Matter movement

What We Are Talking About When We Talk About Social Media: A Framework for Study

Social media and policing: A review of recent research

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