How Social Media Facilitates Political Protest: Information, Motivation, and Social Networks

• DOI: 10.1111/pops.12478
• Publication Date: 2018-02-13T07:55:34Z
• Authors: John T. Jost; Pablo Barberá; Richard Bonneau; Melanie Langer; Megan Metzger; Jonathan Nagler; Joanna Sterling; Joshua A. Tucker
• Keywords: Collective Action; Opposition (politics); Microblogging

It is often claimed that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are profoundly shaping political participation, especially when it comes to protest behavior. Whether or not this the case, analysis of “Big Data” generated by usage offers unprecedented opportunities observe complex, dynamic effects associated with large‐scale collective action movements. In article, we summarize evidence from studies movements in United States, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine demonstrating that: (1) Social facilitate exchange information vital coordination activities, news about transportation, turnout, police presence, violence, medical services, legal support; (2) addition, emotional motivational contents support opposition activity, including messages emphasizing anger, identification, group efficacy, concerns fairness, justice, deprivation well explicitly ideological themes; (3) structural characteristics online networks, which may differ a function ideology, have important implications for exposure success failure organizational efforts. Next, issue brief call future research on topic understudied but fundamental appreciating role facilitating namely friendship. closing, liken situation confronted researchers who harvesting vast quantities data systems biologists early days genome sequencing.