Fostering Social Movements with Social Media

Abstract

Social movements are activities in which groups of individuals or organizations try to implement or reverse social or political change or reform. The creation of a community of people who share a movement’s objectives is central to its success. It requires a means of communication through which the movement’s proponents can discuss and refine their objectives, share stories of personal grievances, build organizations, and design and implement strategy and tactics. Media are traditionally among the most important means of communication for building such communities. Social media are a relatively new form media whose power to foster social movements first became obvious during the Arab Spring of 2011. The purpose of this research is to address how social media can best be used to advance the goals of social movement proponents. Eight recent social movements that have used social media to various degrees are analyzed resulting in a model that attempts to answer this question.