THE IMPACTFUL USE of FACEBOOK in SOCIAL MOVEMENTS an Analysis of Black Lives Matter and the Catalan Independence Movement
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ADVERTIMENT. Lʼaccés als continguts dʼaquesta tesi queda condicionat a lʼacceptació de les condicions dʼús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://cat.creativecommons.org/?page_id=184 ADVERTENCIA. El acceso a los contenidos de esta tesis queda condicionado a la aceptación de las condiciones de uso establecidas por la siguiente licencia Creative Commons: http://es.creativecommons.org/blog/licencias/ WARNING. The access to the contents of this doctoral thesis it is limited to the acceptance of the use conditions set by the following Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=en LIKING, SHARING, AND POSTING CHANGE: THE IMPACTFUL USE OF FACEBOOK IN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS An Analysis of Black Lives Matter and the Catalan Independence Movement June, 2020 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Departament de Mitjans, Comunicació i Cultura Doctoral Thesis PhD Candidate: Rachel V. Brown Thesis Advisor: Dra. Carme Ferré-Pavia Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank God Whose grace has been sufficient my entire life. This work, and all of my work, is for His glory. A huge and heartfelt thank you as well to my advisor Dra. Carme Ferré-Pavia (and Reggie) for believing I could do this and never giving up on me. Carme thank you for your unending patience, diligence, and kindness. To my parents, without whom none of this would be possible: I am eternally grateful to you. Thank you for staying up with me halfway across the world, thank you for lifting me when I have been at my lowest, thank you for being the best examples I could ever ask for, and thank you for loving me. I am proud to be your daughter and I can only pray that this work and everything else I end up doing in life will make you proud of me too. To my Grandmothers, may I inherit half of your strength. Grandma Douglas you should have been the first, but I am doing this one for you, the true scholar in the family. Grandma Dena, thank you for always being there, for showing me how to love, and for always giving me a safe place to land if I fall. You both are phenomenal, and I am proud to be your granddaughter. To the entire Brown family, thank you for your support and motivation. I pray that this will be the first of many for our powerhouse family. To all of my ancestors who I do not know by name but have been here with me every step of the way, to the ones who sacrificed their blood, sweat and tears for me, thank you. They didn’t allow you to read and now on your behalf I claim the right to write. Your sacrifices will not go in vain. To the beautiful, amazing women whom I call my sisters (you know yourselves); we did it. For every tear, laugh, hug, and memory, I thank you. You are the best friends I could ever have. To my loved ones, friends, and supporters (you know yourselves too), thank you for being consistent. I will always show up for you if you need me. To my children, and the Every Mikkle Family, I did this so that you would know that you can too. I will expect nothing less from you in the future. To my beautiful country Jamaica, thank you for setting the bar so high and thank you for making your people great. Eternal Father bless our land. To Africa, my heart, my beginning, and my end; you are everything. I cannot wait to see you take your rightful place in the world and I promise to help you get there. To all the Black men and women taken from us, we will get you justice and we will remember you always. Because of you our world is changing. This one is for my ancestors, this one is for my family, this one is for Jamaica, this one is for Africa, this one is for Black people, this one is for my people, this one is for the future, this one is for the culture. One Love! 1 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Why this Research is Necessary .................................................................................... 9 1.2 General Overview of the Research .............................................................................. 13 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................. 17 2.1 Overview ..................................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Social Movements ....................................................................................................... 19 2.2.1 Background ......................................................................................................... 19 2.2.2 Why do social movements start? ......................................................................... 21 2.2.3 How do social movements start? ......................................................................... 24 2.2.4 Who starts social movements? ............................................................................ 27 2.2.5 The evolution of social movements: The incorporation of technology ............... 30 2.3 Social Media Activism ................................................................................................ 31 2.3.1 Background on social media usage and study in movements ............................. 31 2.3.2 The need for increased scholarship on social media activism ............................. 32 2.3.3 Benefits of social media activism ........................................................................ 35 2.3.4 Downfalls of social media activism .................................................................... 39 2.3.5 How using social media empowers users ............................................................ 43 2.3.6 How to use social media activism to create change ............................................ 45 2.4 Slacktivism Vs. Activism ............................................................................................ 48 2.4.1 Brief Context of Slacktivism and Activism ........................................................ 48 2.4.2 Overview of slacktivism and activism ................................................................ 51 2.4.3 What is slacktivism? ............................................................................................ 51 2.4.4 What are the criticisms of slacktivism? ............................................................... 53 2.4.5 Why does slacktivism exist? ............................................................................... 56 2.4.6 How is slacktivism different from activism ........................................................ 59 2.4.7 How can slacktivism be transformed into activism? ........................................... 62 2.5 The Use of Facebook as a Tool in Social Movements ................................................ 67 2.5.1 Overview of The Use of Facebook in Social Movements ................................... 67 2 2.5.2 Facebook as a social media platform: Statistics .................................................. 68 2.5.3 How Facebook works/ Facebook User Benefits ................................................. 70 2.5.4 The Role of Facebook in Activism: Communication .......................................... 73 2.5.5 The Role of Facebook in Activism: Organization and Mobilization .................. 76 2.5.6 How Facebook has been an Effective Tool for Social Movements .................... 80 2.6 Black Lives Matter ...................................................................................................... 83 2.6.1 Overview of Black Lives Matter ......................................................................... 83 2.6.2 Background on Black Lives Matter ..................................................................... 86 2.6.3 Goals of Black Lives Matter ............................................................................... 88 2.6.4 Different Facets and Approaches of Black Lives Matter .................................... 90 2.6.5 The Use of Social Media as a Tool in Black Lives Matter ................................. 91 2.6.6 Criticism and Resistance Faced by Black Lives Matter ...................................... 94 2.7 The Catalan Independence Movement ........................................................................ 95 2.7.1 Overview of the Catalan Independence Movement ............................................ 95 2.7.2 Background on the Fight for Catalan Independence ........................................... 97 2.7.3 The 2017 Referendum ......................................................................................... 99 2.7.4 The Usage of Social Media in the Catalan Independence Movement ............... 101 2.7.5 The Aftermath: What now for Catalunya and Independence? .......................... 105 2.8 Takeaways from the Literature Review .................................................................... 107 3 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 108 3.1 General Objectives .................................................................................................... 108 3.2 Research Methods ..................................................................................................... 108 3.3 Google Trends ........................................................................................................... 110 3.3.1 Overview of Google Trends .............................................................................. 110 3.3.2 Google Trends for Black Lives