The public as active agents in social movement: Facebook and Gangjeong movement

Abstract

This study content analyzed a South Korean social movement Facebook page to examine how activists and the public used it for the movement. Specifically, the study examined posts as well as comments that activists and the public made on a Facebook page related to the Gangjeong movement. The findings imply that activists and the public are more similar than different in terms of their use of messages posted and general comments. In fact, differences between activists and the public were more clearly found in posts than comments; by and large, activists preferred to use posts while the public were more active in writing comments compared to their posting frequency. Both groups frequently used hyperlinks as a method of providing information and developing coalitions. Furthermore, frame conflicts between activists and the public are less likely to appear as they tend to prefer particular types of frames. Taken together, the results indicate that members of the public have become active agents within the social media movement.