Introduction to Social Media, Activism, and Organizations

Abstract

Social media have become increasingly pervasive. However, the literature on social movements and social media has not fully grasped just how much social media have fundamentally changed the landscape of organizational communication, ranging from stakeholders being able to directly mobilize resources to making grassroots transnational social movements more organizationally feasible. A major gap in the literature is this lack of understanding how social media have shaped social movement organizations (SMOs) and the organization of social movements. This Special Issue brings together a unique collection of articles that map and comment on the field of social media and social movements. The volume contributes to literature in this area by exploring how social media are not only shaping social movements, advocacy, and activism from the point of view of organizational communication but also changing the ways in which activists and SMOs interact with each other. The volume leverages a diverse array of interdisciplinary methods and covers a broad terrain ranging from analyses of knowledge transfer between grassroot activists via social media to large SMOs. The Issue is broadly divided into two parts. Part 1 is focused around trends and interventions in social media, activism, and organizations research. Part 2 revolves around a global collection of case studies. The two are hardly mutually exclusive and the boundaries are roughly drawn. This collection provides a critical starting point for better understanding social media and social movements, an area that is fundamentally important to a variety of disciplines but severely underresearched.

“Like, Share, Comment,” and Learn: Transformative Learning in Online Anti-Trump Resistance Communities

“…This study sought to understand who participates in online social media resistance groups that formed after the 2016 election, why they participate, and how their views of citizenship transformed due to their participation. The influence of social media on social movements is “severely underresearched” (Murthy, 2018, p. 4), and this specific movement in particular has yet to be explored in scholarship, even as journalists have written extensively about social media activism post-2016. Some question how resistance movements “can avoid the fate of so many others kick started by the power of social networks—only to find that it’s much harder to make political change than to make a popular hashtag” (Tsukayama, 2017).…”

Tweet your #Mo and save a Bro

“…This dissertation addresses the relationship between online and offline mobilization by tracking and linking movement members' online identities, communication exchanges, fundraising outcomes, organization of events, and socio-demographics. In this way, the dissertation contributes to current debates around the impact of social media on collective action, its organization, and individual participation (Bennett & Segerberg, 2015;Earl et al, 2014;Earl & Kimport, 2011;Gerbaudo & Treré, 2015;Hara & Huang, 2011;Murthy, 2018). I offer a concrete research agenda with conceptual and methodological research directions that are useful for studying the impact of social media in social movements (Chapter 2).…”

“…Several other examples of advocacy campaigns heavily relying on social media come to mind, such as the breast cancer awareness month promoted by the Pink Ribbon organization or the SunSmart media campaigns to prevent skin cancer. 1 Social movement organizations (SMOs) widely use social media to organize collective action for social change (Earl, Hunt, & Garrett, 2014;Earl & Kimport, 2011;Hara & Huang, 2011;Lovejoy & Saxton, 2012;Murthy, 2018;Van Laer & Van Aelst, 2010), such as health awareness campaigns (Chou, Prestin, Lyons, & Wen, 2013;Koskan et al, 2014;Maher et al, 2014;Thackeray, Neiger, Burton, & Thackeray, 2013;Ventola, 2014;Wehner et al, 2014). Social change can be achieved by promoting online conversations of impact and by inspiring people to move from their armchair to the street.…”

“…Nonetheless, while there is no doubt that we are witnessing in increasing "organization-less collective action" (Benkler, 2006;Shirky, 2008), SMOs are not disappearing. On the contrary, they are increasing (Bimber et al, 2012) and largely incorporate and use social media to mobilize people and organize campaigns (Bimber et al, 2012;Karpf, 2012Karpf, , 2018Kreiss, 2012;Lovejoy & Saxton, 2012;Murthy, 2018). Consequently, SMOs provide people involved in the movement with new ways to engage and participate in collective action via social media.…”

“…Social movement organizations (SMOs) use social media to mobilize people for social causes (Earl, 2015;Earl et al, 2014;Murthy, 2018;Walker & Martin, 2018), such as advocacy campaigns to promote health. For example, the Movember Foundation is an SMO that organizes a campaign every November to promote awareness of prostate and testicular cancer (Movember, 2014).…”