Digital Media Activities and Connective Actions

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of digital media activities in the dynamics of the Umbrella Movement. It demonstrates how the participants of the movement engaged in a wide range of digital media activities, some of which were integral to the dynamics of the occupation. Digital media activities allowed participants to construct their own modes of participation. Digital media activities were found to relate to higher degrees of involvement in the Umbrella Movement at the individual level, but higher degrees of involvement were found to relate to lower levels of willingness to listen to the central organizers of the occupation. An analysis of social media contents also found a significant degree of decentralization of the protest campaign. Digital media activities therefore both empowered the movement and introduced forces of decentralization that constrained the organizers’ capability of negotiating with the targets.