The Development of Connective Action during Social Movements on Social Media

Abstract

In recent years, the development of information communication technologies, such as social media, has changed the way people communicate and engage in social movements. While conventional movements were fought in the streets, social media has enabled movements to take place online. In this article, we aim to investigate the role of social media during social movements that evolve online under the scope of the theory of connective action. Specifically, we examined Twitter communication during the #metoo debate. To this end, we examined two datasets (2017 and 2019) and combined methods from social media analytics to identify influential users, with a manual content analysis to classify influential users into roles. Likewise, a manual classification found distinct communication categories. Through regression analysis, we were able to gage the individual contribution of these categories and roles based on the retweet probability. This study introduces for the first time the terms of connective action starters and maintainers.

Issue Communication Network Dynamics in Connective Action: The Role of Non-Political Influencers and Regular Users

“…This study presents empirical evidence of how complex network structural processes underlie connective action. Joining the proliferating research in networked connective action (Bennett & Segerberg, 2013;Jackson et al, 2018;Mirbabaie et al, 2021), the findings demonstrate that network mechanisms such as reciprocity, transitivity, and homophily significantly influence the evolution of an issue communication network. This study advances previous research efforts that focused on the network structure of an activism network (Ma & Zhang, 2022;Y.…”

“…From the perspective of connective action theory (Bennett & Segerberg, 2013; Mirbabaie et al, 2021), the connections and coordination among influential activists are crucial for sustaining activism and mobilizing more participants. Therefore, social network analysis is an appropriate method for understanding the dynamics of digital activism.…”

Let's Talk About Socio-Technical Angst: Tracing the History and Evolution of Dark Patterns on Twitter from 2010-2021

“…On the other hand, Dimond et al [23] also surfaced how storytelling plays a vital role in the sustenance of online communities. Altogether, these and other studies [24,43,48,56,61,64] foreground and characterize the diverse ways online activists have leveraged sociotechnical systems to advocate for their goals and beliefs.…”

Narratives of Anti-Vaccination Movements in the German and Brazilian Twittersphere: A Grounded Theory Approach

“…The development of social media and online communities created an arena for social movements (Mirbabaie et al, 2021). By offering benefits such as low individual cost of participation and connectivity between users, social media has transformed individuals' passive state of participation into self-organized participation (Kavada, 2015).…”

“…During a social movement, a collective identity between the movement's participants develops (Mirbabaie et al, 2021). Collective identity facilitates the generation of a social movement and sustains commitment and cohesion between the actors (Fominaya, 2010).…”