The Perceived Influence of Social Media on Millennial Prosocial Behaviours

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Perceived Influence of Social Media on Millennial Prosocial Behaviours EXAMENSARBETE INOM TEKNIK, GRUNDNIVÅ, 15 HP STOCKHOLM, SVERIGE 2019 Act or interact? The perceived influence of social media on millennial prosocial behaviours ELLA WIRSTAD GUSTAFSSON LINDA CNATTINGIUS KTH SKOLAN FÖR ELEKTROTEKNIK OCH DATAVETENSKAP Act or interact? The perceived inuence of social media on millennial prosocial behaviours Linda Cnattingius Ella Wirstad Gustafsson KTH Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Insittute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm, Sweden [email protected] [email protected] Abstract och samtida aspekter spela en viktig roll för deltagarnas moti- With modern communication technology advancements, ac- vation att engagera sig i kostsamma och konkreta prosociala tivist expression has become more common on social media handlingar. platforms. Especially susceptible to these expressions is the Keywords social media activism, slacktivism, prosocial be- millennial generation, whose lives are greatly permeated by haviour, moral self-licensing, media technology media technology. This thesis aims to explore in what ways the social media platform Facebook inuences millennials’ motivation to engage in substantial prosocial behaviours that 1 Introduction are intended to benet other people or society as a whole. The format of social media has made it a popular platform Through mixed-method research design, participants’ atti- for political and civic engagement. During the past years tudes towards Facebook as a platform for activism and its we have witnessed movements representing dierent social- inuence on prosocial motivational aspects, was explored. political voices rising and spreading through hashtags on Results indicated that previous habits of supportive engage- social media with impactful outcomes [4][15][23]. Although ment and the cost of the supportive action inuenced how proven to have played an important part as political acceler- the likeliness and motivation to engage in substantial sup- ators, some voices remain critical towards social media as a portive actions was aected by Facebook interaction. More platform for political revolution [8][14]. Critical voices also precisely, higher levels of previous engagement, as well as aim to separate online activism from its passive counterpart, engagement in costly, prosocial actions contributed to an slacktivism, dened as, increased motivation to engage further in such actions. Fur- political activities that have no impact on real-life political thermore, social and contemporary aspects showed to play outcomes, but only serve to increase the feel-good factor of the a large part for participants’ motivation to engage in costly participants [5] and substantial prosocial actions. Especially active in social-political online activism is the generation that is often referred to as the millennial genera- tion i.e. people born 1981-2001 [10]. A dening aspect of this Sammanfattning generation and their lives is the constant presence of Internet, I samband med dagens kommunikationsteknologiska fram- and consequently, media technology permeating every facet steg har aktivistiska uttryck blivit allt vanligare på plattfor- of their lives. The millennials are a globally interconnected mar för sociala medier. Särskilt mottagliga för sådana uttryck generation and by using social media to stay connected with är millenniegenerationen, från engelskans ’milliennials’, vars others, they can catalyse online communities and motivate liv till stor del genomsyras av medieteknik. Denna studie action [7]. While digital technologies, such as Facebook, har för avsikt att utforska hur den sociala plattformen Face- have shown to sometimes provide powerful tools to engage book påverkar motivationen för individer tillhörande mil- and motivate, this thesis aims to study the potentials and lenniegenerationen att engagera sig i konkreta prosociala pitfalls of Facebook, by exploring it’s perceived eects on beteenden som har som syfte att gynna andra människor substantial prosocial actions. Moreover, as individuals of the eller samhället som helhet. Genom kombinerade kvalita- millennial generation have been called ’digital natives’ due to tiva och kvantitativa forskningsmetoder utforskades delta- their inherent relation to digital technology[11], this article garnas attityder gentemot Facebook som en plattform för will especially study possible consequences these technolo- aktivism, och dess inverkan på prosocialt motiverande as- gies might have on individuals of this generation. Millennials pekter. Resultaten visade att tidigare vana av engagemang have also shown to have a more positive attitude towards samt kostnaden av den välgörande handlingen påverkades technology than older generations which could make them av Facebook-interaktion. Närmare bestämt, högre nivåer av especially susceptible to such eects[11]. tidigare engagemang samt engagemang i kostsamma, proso- This thesis thereby aims to explore how millennials’ inter- cial handlingar bidrog till en ökad motivation till fortsatt action on Facebook aects their motivation and likelihood engagemang i sådana handlingar. Vidare påvisades sociala to engage in substantial prosocial actions. Prosocial actions Cnaingius and Wirstad Gustafsson are actions that are intended to benet others or society as a nothing else. As a part of his argumentation, he refers to his whole, and often entails cost or risk to the self [22]. For the earlier research where he examines people’s general eorts purpose of this study we have dened substantial prosocial to contribute to social causes and reached the conclusion actions as actions that has a direct, benecial impact on a that online contribution not having tangible impact on the social movement such as donating money or volunteering. cause. He denes slacktivism as: Facebook is the social media platform which is most com- monly used among millennials and allows its users to engage "’Slacktivism’ is an apt term to describe feel- in social movements in multiple dierent ways, such as join good online activism that has zero political or discussion groups and organisations and receive live updates social impact." from these [7]. Users can also show their support to social movements and organisations by sharing, or liking content or proles [20]. In the article "Political activities on the Internet: Slack- This study will give voice to, and act as a starting-point for tivism or political participation by other means?" by Henric further reection regarding millennials’ perception of using Christensen, the author examines what forms of activism social media such as Facebook as a platform for communicat- performed on the internet should be dened as slacktivism ing and engaging in prosocial actions. By nding out more or just online activism [5]. He uses Morozov’s denition of about millennials’ behaviour on Facebook, social movements slacktivism and raises the criticism of online activism be- can also improve and optimise their online presence in order ing less eective and online activities replacing traditional to provoke oine activist actions among millennials and oine participation and thereby lowering overall levels of thereby cause a more substantial impact for change. participation. Further, the notion of an action as costly, substantial and Furthermore, Christensen highlights that according to impactful, as opposed to a costless, symbolic action that Morozov’s denition, slacktivism lacks the intention of in- entails low-eort [6], will also be studied in order to gain volving people in social movements through actions that a deeper understanding of social media as a platform for require a higher degree of eort and risk, and claims that activism. Moreover, this study will explore the concept of not all forms of online activism can be dened as slacktivism. moral self-licensing in a public social context, and how it Moreover, he argues that if the content presented online by a might play an important role in social media’s eect on social movement encourages people to further participation action and motivation. With these concepts explored the and involvement, rather than only joining Facebook groups following questions will be explored using mixed-methods and sharing posts, it should no longer be considered slack- research design. tivism. He also argues against Morozov, expressing the lack How do millennials perceive that their motivation to engage of evidence proving that online activism actions replaces the in prosocial actions is aected by interacting with Facebook traditional forms of oine activism participation. content? How do millennials perceive Facebook as a platform Other studies express the distinction between activism for activism? and slacktivism as especially blurry on social media, since activism sometimes relies on the type of slacktivism of the 2 Related work masses that is characteristic of social media interaction [3]. In "Clicktivism, Slacktivism, or ’Real’ Activism? Cultural This section will review research and theories relating to this Codes of American Activism in the Internet Era" Mary Butler study. The related work will discuss the topics of slacktivism describes the possibilities of internet, where people have and behavioural licensing eects that could inuence how the ability to spread information and discuss social change participants are aected by Facebook interaction. every second of the day [2]. Furthermore, she argues, in- ternet facilitates connections between people over similar 2.1 Slacktivism concerns without needing organisations or leaders. How- The term slacktivism was introduced
Recommended publications
  • From Clicktivism to Hacktivism: Understanding Digital Activism
    Information & Organization, forthcoming 2019 1 From Clicktivism to Hacktivism: Understanding Digital Activism Jordana J. George Dorothy E. Leidner Mays Business School, Texas A&M University Baylor University ABSTRACT Digital activism provides new opportunities for social movement participants and social movement organizations (SMOs). Recent IS research has begun to touch on digital activism, defining it, exploring it, and building new theory to help understand it. This paper seeks to unpack digital activism through an exploratory literature review that provides descriptions, definitions, and categorizations. We provide a framework for digital activism by extending Milbrath’s (1965) hierarchy of political participation that divides activism into spectator, transitional, and gladiatorial activities. Using this framework, we identify ten activities of digital activism that are represented in the literature. These include digital spectator activities: clicktivism, metavoicing, assertion; digital transitional activities: e-funding, political consumerism, digital petitions, and botivism; and digital gladiatorial activities: data activism, exposure, and hacktivism. Last, we analyze the activities in terms of participants, SMOs, individuals who are targeted by the activity, and organizations that are targeted by the activity. We highlight four major implications and offer four meta-conjectures on the mechanisms of digital activism and their resulting impacts, and reveal a new construct where participants digitally organize yet lack an identifying cause, which we label connective emotion. Key Words Digital activism, social activism, political participation, social movements, connective emotion, literature review 1.0 Introduction Not long ago, activism to promote social movements was relegated to demonstrations and marches, chaining oneself to a fence, or writing to a government representative. Recruiting, organizing, and retaining participants was difficult enough to ensure that often only largest, best supported movements thrived and creating an impact often took years.
    [Show full text]
  • Health Slacktivism on Social Media: Predictors and Effects
    Health Slacktivism on Social Media: Predictors and Effects Chih-Wei Hu Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California, USA [email protected] Abstract. The present study examined predictors, moderators, and effects of health slacktivism, which is characterized as individuals’ effortless acts in supporting health causes primarily through Internet and social media. Findings revealed that issue-involvement and self-presentation were two underlying predictors of slacktivism. Specifically, ingratiation self-presentation was found to be a significant predictor of slacktivism among slacktivists, while enhancement self-presentation predicted slacktivism among activists. Results imply that strategic impression-management types were associated with health slacktivism among particular sub-groups. It is also found that health slacktivists and activists differed by relational connection. Slacktivists tended to be people who were remotely related to the health issue advocated, while activists were people who had closer relational connection to the health issue. Health consciousness, however, was not a significant predictor of slacktivism nor a differentiating factor between slacktivists and activists. Consistent with the Transtheoretical Model, slacktivism was found to have positive effects among participants in terms of awareness, psychological wellbeing, behavioral intention and behavior adoption. Individuals’ low-threshold engagement as slacktivism also predicted their high-threshold engagement (activism), implying that getting involved in slacktivism does not substitute for offline forms of participation but may increase the possibility of offline engagement instead. Keywords: slacktivism, activism, social media, health campaign, health consciousness, issue-involvement, self-presentation. 1 Introduction Web 2.0 has changed the way people engage in social activism in that the Internet have opened up a new world for quick access and connection to online campaigns of various social causes [1-2].
    [Show full text]
  • Blacklivesmatter—Getting from Contemporary Social Movements to Structural Change
    Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2021 #BlackLivesMatter—Getting from Contemporary Social Movements to Structural Change Jamillah Bowman Williams Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] Naomi Mezey Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] Lisa O. Singh Georgetown University, [email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2387 https://ssrn.com/abstract=3860435 California Law Review Online, Vol. 12, Reckoning and Reformation symposium. This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Law and Race Commons, and the Law and Society Commons #BlackLivesMatter— Getting from Contemporary Social Movements to Structural Change Jamillah Bowman Williams*, Naomi Mezey**, and Lisa Singh*** Introduction ................................................................................................. 2 I. Methodology ............................................................................................ 5 II. BLM: From Contemporary Social Movement to Structural Change ..... 6 A. Black Lives Matter as a Social Media Powerhouse ................. 6 B. Tweets and Streets: The Dynamic Relationship between Online and Offline Activism ................................................. 12 C. A Theory of How to Move from Social Media
    [Show full text]
  • Hashtag Activism and Why #Blacklivesmatter in (And To) the Classroom
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research Brooklyn College 2016 Hashtag Activism and Why #BlackLivesMatter In (And To) the Classroom Prudence Cumberbatch CUNY Brooklyn College Nicole Trujillo-Pagán Wayne State University How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bc_pubs/189 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] ISSN: 1941-0832 Hashtag Activism and Why #BlackLivesMatter In (and To) the Classroom by-Prudence Cumberbatch and Nicole Trujillo-Pagán PROTEST MARCH IN RESPONSE TO THE SHOOTING OF PHILANDO CASTILE, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA ON JULY 7, 2016 (IMAGE: FIBONACCI BLUE) RADICAL TEACHER 78 http://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu No. 106 (Fall 2016) DOI 10.5195/rt.2016.302 n the wake of the murder of Trayvon Martin and the not only transform people's self-understandings but also acquittal of George Zimmerman, the hashtag contest the legitimacy of received cultural codes and points I #BlackLivesMatter was started by Alicia Garza, of view” (Carroll and Hackett 2006, 87). A critical part of PatrisseCullors and Opal Tometi. 1 The case led to this discursive struggle involves social media, which multiracial protests across the country and Twitter became creates a virtual space to challenge, reframe, and a way of organizing and discussing these experiences. The reinscribe representations of who is victimized. subsequent media attention to the murders of unarmed Communities like Black Lives Matter (BLM) challenge the black and brown people encouraged further protest using legitimacy of an ostensibly “colorblind” judicial system.
    [Show full text]
  • Twitter and the #Bringbackourgirls Campaign by Chelsey
    The Technology of Hope: Twitter and the #BringBackOurGirls Campaign by Chelsey Smith A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts In Intercultural and International Communication Royal Roads University Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Supervisor: Dr. David Black August 29, 2015 • Chelsey Smith, 2015 Committee Approval The members of Chelsey Smith’s Thesis Committee certify that they have read the thesis titled The Technology of Hope: Twitter and the #BringBackOurGirls Campaign and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the thesis requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Intercultural and International Communication: Dr. David Black, Associate Professor [signature on file] School of Communication & Culture Royal Roads University Dr. Chaseten Remillard, Professor [signature on file] School of Communication & Culture Royal Roads University Dr. Merlyna Lim, Assistant Professor [signature on file] School of Journalism and Communication Carleton University Final approval and acceptance of this thesis is contingent upon submission of the final copy of the thesis to Royal Roads University. The thesis supervisor confirms to have read this thesis and recommends that it be accepted as fulfilling the thesis requirements: Dr. David Black [signature on file] 2 Creative Commons Statement This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/. Some material in this work is not being made available under the terms of this license: • Third-Party material that is being used under fair dealing or with permission.
    [Show full text]
  • Cut Them Some Slack: Slacktivism's Prosocial Potential
    feature / 1 ! Cut Them Some Slack: Slacktivism’s Prosocial Potential Adam Mastroianni Featured Essay Check your Facebook. (Seriously, go ahead. I don’t usually make it past the first sentence of a scholarly paper without checking Facebook anyway). Buried among the never-ending ticker tape of selfies, links to articles like “29 Dogs Who Are Just Not Having It,” and ads from your friends at H&R Block, you’ll probably find a handful of posts about social issues. These come from all sorts of characters: your missionary cousin posting an article about Typhoon Haiyan, your conservative coworker railing about gun control legislation and linking to a petition to save high-capacity magazines, your college acquaintance exhorting people to use more sensitive language about mental disabilities, and so on. Meet “slacktivism,” token actions made in favor of a social issue—often done online—that many consider to be the face of activism today (Morozov, 2009). Research confirms such content is widespread in Newsfeeds. According to a study commissioned by the New York Times, half of social media users report that they share content to “inform others of products they care about and potentially change opinions or encourage action” (Bredd, n.d.). Sixty-nine percent share in order to “feel more involved in the world,” and an impressive 84% share to “support causes or issues they care about” (Brett, n.d.). With the majority of Facebook’s 1.2 billion monthly users constantly generating content about social issues, the amount of slacktivism occurring is beyond human conceptualization (Facebook.com, 2013). The kind of social activism that used to manifest itself in bumper stickers, sit-ins, and unpleasant dinner conversations with family is now being broadcast by the terabyte 24/7 to entire social networks at once.
    [Show full text]
  • How Affect Rhetoric and a Changing Digital Landscape Shape Youth Digital Social Movements of the Twenty-First Century
    University of North Dakota UND Scholarly Commons Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects January 2020 How Affect Rhetoric And A Changing Digital Landscape Shape Youth Digital Social Movements Of The Twenty-First Century Amanda Frances Pasierb Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/theses Recommended Citation Pasierb, Amanda Frances, "How Affect Rhetoric And A Changing Digital Landscape Shape Youth Digital Social Movements Of The Twenty-First Century" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 3385. https://commons.und.edu/theses/3385 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HOW AFFECT RHETORIC AND A CHANGING DIGITAL LANDSCAPE SHAPE YOUTH DIGITAL SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY by Amanda Frances Pasierb Bachelor of Arts, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2014 Master of Arts, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2016 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of North Dakota in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Grand Forks, North Dakota December 2020 This dissertation, submitted by Amanda Frances Pasierb in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of North Dakota, has been read
    [Show full text]
  • Casual Politics: from Slacktivism to Emergent Movements and Pattern Recognition
    17 CASUAL POLITICS: FROM SLACKTIVISM TO EMERGENT MOVEMENTS AND PATTERN RECOGNITION Ismael Peña-López Professor at the School of Law and Political Science of the Open University of Catalonia ABSTRACT: Politics have traditionally looked at the exercise of democracy with at least two implicit assumptions: (1) institutions are the normal channel of politics and (2) voting is the normal channel for politics to make decisions. Of course, reality is much more complex than that, but, on the one hand, all the extensions of that model beyond or around voting –issues related to access to public information, to deliberation and argumentation, to negotiation and opinion shaping, or related to ac- countability– are based on institutions as the core axis around which politics spin. On the other hand, the existence and analysis of extra-institutional political participation –awareness raising, lobbying, citizen movements, protests and demonstrations– have also most of the times been put in relation- ship with affecting the final outcomes of institutional participation and decision-making, especially in affecting voting. Inspired in the concept of «feet voting» (developed by Tiebout, Friedman and others) in this paper we want to challenge this way of understanding politics as a proactive and conscious action, and propose instead a reactive and unconscious way of doing politics, based on small, casual contributions and its posterior analysis by means of big data, emergence analysis and pattern recognition. In our theoretical approach –illustrated with real examples in and out of the field of politics– we will argue that social media practices like tweeting, liking and sharing on Facebook or Google+, blogging, commenting on social networking sites, tagging, hashtagging and geotagging are not what has been pejoratively labelled as «slacktivism» (a comfortable, low commitment and feel-good way of activism) but «casual politics», that is, the same kind of politics that happen informally in the offline world.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case for Digital Activism: Refuting the Fallacies of Slacktivism
    JOURNALOF DIGITAL SOCIAL RESEARCH WWW.JDSR.IO ISSN 2003-1998 VOL. 2, NO. 2, 2020, 28–47 THE CASE FOR DIGITAL ACTIVISM: REFUTING THE FALLACIES OF SLACKTIVISM Nora Madison* & Mathias Klang** ABSTRACT This paper argues for the importance and value of digital activism. We first outline the arguments against digitally mediated activism and then address the counter- arguments against its derogatory criticisms. The low threshold for participating in technologically mediated activism seems to irk its detractors. Indeed, the term used to downplay digital activism is slacktivism, a portmanteau of slacker and activism. The use of slacker is intended to stress the inaction, low effort, and laziness of the person and thereby question their dedication to the cause. In this work we argue that digital activism plays a vital role in the arsenal of the activist and needs to be studied on its own terms in order to be more fully understood. Keywords: activism; resistance; protest; slacktivism; online activism. * Chestnut Hill College, USA. ** Fordham University, USA. This article is published under a CC BY-SA license JOURNAL OF DIGITAL SOCIAL RESEARCH — VOL. 2, NO. 2, 2020 1 INTRODUCTION Within liberal democracy the goal of political and civic engagement has always been held in great esteem; however, participation entails a number of barriers that must be overcome. Through the internet the ability of individuals to reach out and interact has radically changed and, consequently, social media has become a popular tool of anyone attempting to engage in political and civic discourse. This ability has impacted the ways and the paths into political participation and led, arguably, to an increase in participation (Bimber et al., 2015; Gerbaudo, 2012; Matich et al., 2019; Mendes et al., 2018; Milan & Barbosa, 2020; Minocher, 2019; Valeriani & Vaccari, 2016).
    [Show full text]
  • Roles of Social Media in the Black Lives Matter Movement During COVID-19
    Grand Valley State University ScholarWorks@GVSU Honors Projects Undergraduate Research and Creative Practice 4-2021 Roles of Social Media in the Black Lives Matter Movement During COVID-19 Reilly E. Olson Grand Valley State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/honorsprojects Part of the Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social Justice Commons, and the Social Media Commons ScholarWorks Citation Olson, Reilly E., "Roles of Social Media in the Black Lives Matter Movement During COVID-19" (2021). Honors Projects. 838. https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/honorsprojects/838 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Research and Creative Practice at ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ROLES OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT DURING COVID-19 Reilly E. Olson Frederik Meijer Honors College Honors Thesis Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 2 Review of Literature ................................................................................................................... 5 Critical Race Theory ................................................................................................................ 8 Social media and BLM ...........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • An Assessment of Political Engagement and Motivations Among Students at Indiana University
    SPA Journal at IU Spring 2021 Edition Setting the PACE: An Assessment of Political Engagement and Motivations Among Students at Indiana University Elliott Beach, Ryan Carlberg, Abigail Gschwend Harris, Jacob Henry, & Shelby Kuepker Abstract In the months leading up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, researchers surveyed IU students in the Political and Civic Engagement (PACE) certificate program in order to understand how PACE students were engaged politically, what motivated them to engage politically, and how those motivations were shaped by the changing political landscape. Using primarily quantitative methods, researchers utilized Cabrera et al.’s (2017) ten student activism and engagement premises as a foundation for their research. Researchers further worked to establish a spectrum of political engagement which ranged from slacktivism to activism, a scale that became more evident and applicable throughout the analysis. Through both a quantitative and qualitative analysis, researchers found that there was not a strong connection between the years of involvement in the PACE program and the number of ways a student is politically engaged. Additionally, researchers found that there was a wide array of motivations for students joining the PACE program which could be leveraged by PACE administrators in programming or curriculum. Our findings revealed that PACE students are very altruistic in their vision and hopes for society. Keywords Political engagement, student activism, political motivations 53 Beach, Carlberg, Gschwend Harris, Henry, & Kuepker Elliott Beach hails from Springfield, Ohio. He received a B.A. in history from Thiel College and his M.S.Ed. in Higher Education & Student Affairs and a Certificate in Institutional Research in spring 2021 from Indiana University-Bloomington.
    [Show full text]
  • Slacktivism As a Mobilization Resource in Social Networks
    Comunicación y Sociedad Slacktivism as a mobilization resource in social networks: The #BringBackOurGirls case1 El slacktivismo como recurso de movilización en redes sociales: el caso de ANA MARÍA CÓRDOBA HERNÁNDEZ2 #BringBackOurGirls http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4752-9724 This paper studies the #BringBackOurGirls campaign development on Twitter, during 2014, through the use of six social networks measurement APIs. Its main objective is to approach the advantages that Slacktivism represents as a social mobilization phenomenon on the Internet, from the assumptions of the Resource Mobilization Theory (RMT) and its effectiveness in impacting the global political agenda. KEYWORDS: Slacktivism, Resource Mobilization Theory, #BringBackOurGirls, Twitter, Transnational Activism. Este trabajo estudia el desarrollo de la campaña #BringBackOurGirls en Twitter, durante 2014, a través de seis apis de medición de redes sociales. El objetivo es aproximarse a las ventajas que supone el Slacktivismo, como fenómeno de movilización social en Internet, desde los presupuestos de la Teoría de Movilización de Recursos (tmr) y su efectividad para impactar la agenda política mundial. PALABRAS CLAVE: Slacktivismo, Teoría de Movilización de Recursos, #BringBackOur- Girls, Twitter, activismo transnacional. 1 The author wants to thank the work of Ana Gabriela Leca and Santiago Gómez, students from the Semillero de Investigación del Observatorio de Medios, of Univer- sidad de La Sabana, who helped gathering a great part of the data analyzed on this research. 2 Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia. E-mail: [email protected] Submitted: 10/10/2016. Accepted: 27/03/2017. Núm. 30, septiembre-diciembre, 2017, pp. 235-258. 235 236 Ana María Córdoba Hernández INTRODUCTION Nowadays, the success of any political cause seems to be directly proportional to the amount of likes, on Facebook; retweets, on Twitter; or views on YouTube, that such cause may generate.
    [Show full text]