Does the Opposition Progress in Networks? Does the Opposition Get Caught in the Net?

Abstract

The fact that social media allows for a multi-directional commu-nication in which ordinary citizens are able to make their oppositional stance, observations and voices heard has been promising for the democratization of communication. For this reason, in conjunc-tion with the social events unfolding in 2011, the revolutionary power of social media with its contribution to the improvement of freedom of expression and democracy was reemphasized. Revolutionary characters have been attributed to the social networks used in the social events developing in the world. From the Green Movement in Iran to the news of the Occupy Wall Street, we encounter terms such as “Facebook Revolution” or “Twitter Revolution” for the social events that take place all around the world. To such an extent that communication carried out on Twitter by the opponents in the Arab uprisings was followed by the whole world. In fact, the mainstream media used this medium as a news source. Digital media activism has enabled local issues to be shared with the world public and particularly, social networks like Twitter have acted as media providing economic, facilitating and interactive communication and logistic coordination. (Segerberg and Bennett, 2011:198). What is the role of social media on the power–opposition sides in terms of the social transformations in question?