The Role of the Internet on Organized Collective Action

CEU eTD Collection a Magyar Sajtószabadságért (OneMillion for a MagyarSajtószabadságért and offlineactivism:thecaseofEgymillióan Social networkservicesastoolsforonline In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of the FreedomofPressinHungary) Supervisor: Dr. Stefania Milan (University of Toronto) (University Milan Stefania Dr. Supervisor: Department of Political Science Political of Department Central European University European Central Arts/Sciences Budapest, Hungary Budapest, Tamás György Submitted to Submitted (2012) by CEU eTD Collection on content analysis. content on rely Iprimarily questions, forIn addressing the and organizing atool protests? and as debate sites shape new forms Inmy(2010-present). study I ask in followingthe questions: what ways dosocial networking of Orbán participation? Viktor of government Conservative the of inception the since through going been has How country the changes does political the to reacted EMS citizenry the how in role functionimportant exceptionally as an arena for 2010 was for in of Million whichplayed an Freedom the Hungary’ ’One the (EMS), Press discussion in instance action Hungary of sites. Amajor collective social network through mobilization assessing the social implications of the Internet, and especially the potential of the Internet for investigate The activism of ispurpose with study this to in online afocus an environment, on Abstract i CEU eTD Collection References 65 ______Conclusion ______63 3. 2. 1. Introduction Contents 3.7 3.6 posts published 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 2.3 2.2 2.1 3.1 2.4 1.3 1.4 1.2 1.1 Investigating EMS Investigating Classifications for online activismrepertoires of action Online activism An overall evaluation of the Internet use of useEMS of the Internet of evaluation An overall Content analysis –the “calls for activism” andcentrally generated user page: Facebook EMS the on content Distinguishing success EMS the behind factors The An overview of two online protest campaigns group the EMS of history The brief Postmes and Brunsting’s classification Van Laer and Van Aelst’s classification classification Costanza-Chock’s Hungarian Media Law – a target of criticism Vegh’s Classification sites networking for social Implications Slacktivism Activism and Slacktivism The optimistic and skeptical points of view Advantages and disadvantages of the Internet in facilitating participation ______1 43 ______5 ______31 28 ______18 ______23 ______33 ______39 ______26 ______ii ______14 24 ______51 ______8 31 ______37 ______57 ______23 ______5 CEU eTD Collection Figure 3: Examples of Offline Collective Actions and Dimensions Along Which Figure They 2: Figure 1: List of Figures and Tables Table 2: Table 1: Figure 6: Figure 5: Posts submitted to the EMS page (excluding posts by the group Figure administrators) 4: protest on on 23 the protest Number of new fans of the EMS Facebook group during theBrunsting 2002) weeks before the (Postmes, Online. Action of Forms Comparable of Examples Plus Vary, May by social movements. (Van Laer, Van Aelst 2009) used andInternet-basedaction Internet-supported of types both Overview of Like, share,frequencies andcomment of contents shared by public (N=179) the Like, share, and comment frequencies of frequencies of shared by contents Like, share,andcomment EMS (N=116) Proportions of reaction types in the case of EMS and public posts. March 2012 –Distribution by categories (N=264) page Callsbetweenfor January EMSFacebook 2011 and activismonthe rd (socialbakers.com) iii CEU eTD Collection SNS - SMO - IMC ICT- - ECD - List of abbreviations EMS - EFJ - DDoS - DDoS (Egymillióan (Egymillióan a Magyar Sajtószabadságért, EMS) Social sitesSocial network organization movement Social media centre Independent Information and communications technology Civil Disobedience Electronic The European Federation of of Journalists Federation The European One Million for the Freedom of Press in Hungary Distributed denial of denial Distributed service of iv CEU eTD Collection real-world impact, such as ‘liking’ a page or signing an online petition. online an signing or page a ‘liking’ as such impact, real-world 1 Hungary, these pessimist voices went silent, and gave their places to a set of questions. democratic duringof biggestexistence the protests the series of organizemanaged a to Could itself, than beginningthe rather moresomething of substantial. By timethethe group instancesduring of digital where theactivism of joining actbe happen the theendby group to of instance this wasaclassical that have thought might Cyber-pessimists massive happening. was and something considerable page, suggesting that surfacebe upon the of the taken popped possible to actions further opinions andideasabout news wasflooding Blog articles, posts, andthe “wall” group of content. the with overnight, formed was people concerned of Acommunity thousands. ten the to days, of in acouple and grew tothe thousands, infire:like headcount wasspreadingthe few hours, the word that, a of lawthe toshow their by support joining the page. notagree with form for Freedom inHungary’, peoplecurrent the urging whodo Press of known Hungarian activist on the social media platform Facebook with the name ’One Million by later, was usingmajority. agroup two-thirdsthrough, created afewhours its Just a well- media. online news and broadcast powers print, over unprecedented with media authority established anational it would asiteffect have on detrimental of pressfreedom, well, possible because the as by actors had international and Hungarian legislation of multiple criticized been previously Introduction Generally defined as an online activity that require little effort but at the same time produce little It tookfortyminutes for theFacebook group toreach ahundred andafter supporters, On December 21, 2010, the Hungarian parliament passed a new Media Law. The piece Nevertheless, the governing party managedpush law Nevertheless,the governingparty the to of Hungary 1 slacktivism 1 , which so often happens CEU eTD Collection ‘liking’ a page on Facebook really have substantial impact in the offline environment as well? are thesepeople? Who the Internet? happened without this have that couldthat be possible not the Internet. Examples without for such activities areless obtrusive involving certain activities placeoften online, completely take that of types action collective new creates Internet the case, second In the a certain audience. to out of reaching way cheaper faster, a can be as grasped Internet the of addedvalue the cases, Inthese protest. the about information andis providing protesters potential ofthe reaching Internet sole purpose the the meaning that protest, of the part in organization has the only arole is of Internet role when supporting traditional, offline action. collective The most straightforward example of kind this of role has theprimary that asafacilitator beseen can Internet the of role case, the first the platform. on that conducted being is activity its of bulk the because also but Facebook, on born was EMS because only not platform media social onthe EMS of the activity examine online action. I the collective andoffline of types other online in with be relation placed, of activity EMS can place the in to order for conceptualizations existing looking on online literature activism, the forum of EMS, and see to how itis related to offline activity. Iintend do to this by examining research is concerned with the qualitative analysis of the activity that takes place on the online EMS). in henceforth: Hungarian, Sajtószabadságért a Magyar (Egymillióan action: of collective instance is particular a my attention of center the In mobilization. for theInternet of potential the withenvironment, a focus on assessing the social implications of and Internet, the especially My thesis intends thesis My The contribution of the Internet to the repertoire of various movements is twofold. In my as group activism, of a hubfor online expressions EMSFacebook Presenting the to be a contribution to the literature on activism in an online ’One Million for the Freedom of Press in Hungary’ in of Press Freedom the for Million ’One 2 Can a group of Can agroup people CEU eTD Collection website in question, giving the opportunity to alter the content of the website. 4 entirely, preventing anyone from accessing it. repetitively. If performed correctly, this will cause the target website to run slowly or even collapse 3 an attempt to overflow the mailbox of the recipient. 2 their specific features, and the implications for organizing and executing collective action. collective executing and organizing for implications the and features, specific their the peculiar nature of these sites on Ielaborate sub-fieldsocial sites. the social networking on media,research particularly of in contrast with other platforms to Iturn After that, validity. their assessing critically perspectives, skeptical andthe optimistic on the Internet, looking both more the myto devote attention I action. in collective engagement and Internet the at its to relation offline counterpart. in onlineacquire EMSgroup, the representation of view is the My intention athorough on to group.tool observationqualitative contentanalysis,of in andFacebook participant the EMS action? organizing collective Q2: Q1: In what ways do social networking sites shape new forms of participation? following set of questions guidemy research: discoverintend is to utilizing howEMS opportunities. Ininvestigating these EMS,the the websites forms like include butthey petitions, online also bombings email Hacking a website bypassing the security restrictions ofacomputer system, taking control over the During a virtual sit-in, masses of activists attempt to access a target website simultaneously and An email bomb is aform of net abuse consisting of sending huge volumes of email to an address in How does EMS function as an arena for discussion and debate and as a tool for The outline of my thesis is the following: in the first chapter, I turn to the literature on literature Iturn tothe chapter, first in following: the my is the thesis The outline of The for answers questions the above arebeing through methodological the addressed 4 of my of large (Van orgovernments Aelst2012).In companies Laer, Van I thesis, 3 2 , virtual sit-ins virtual , 3 and hacking CEU eTD Collection concluding and remarks for further suggestions researchin field.the maps the rangethat analysis ofcontent the of callsresult the present I EMS, of foruse Internet the activism of evaluation overall on behalf of the EMS organizers.debate by assessing success the place takes deliberation of Beforethat within group. the an I end my thesis with asa group for Ievaluateand discussion tool EMSFacebook the After that, success of EMS. the elevated that asreasons can beseen that of factors aset and invoke mass demonstrations, precededtwoof the that evaluating EMSgroup surfacecampaigns ofthe onlineon the the emergence, briefdate. Icontinue history andthen the EMSactivity the of to theanalysis by EMS, firstly by information the the background providing issueabout triggered that its potential for interpreting their on reflect and for categorization, the aspects asetof illustrate I onlineactivism. classifying activity of EMS. In chapter three, I introduce my case study of having adetrimental effect. as actsareunderstood whythese of the question address them, and according to slacktivism be as categorized actions not shouldshould at look that or taking acritical literature, in definitions “slacktivism”,the presenting different conceptintroduce of the Specifically, I In the second chapter I turn my attention to models of classification for modelsused ofclassification my to attention Iturn In thesecond chapter 4 CEU eTD Collection demonstrations of support” demands for change in the distribution or exercise of power, andback those demands with public constituency lacking formal representation, in the course ofwhich thosepersons makepublicly visible interactions between power-holders andpersons successfully claiming to speak on behalf ofa 5 large-scale peaceful movements from from thesame movements essentially togetmorelarge-scale peaceful objectives expressing successfully andcircumvent undermine the propaganda systems thathadpreviously prevented 2001; Cere 2003), Martinez-Torres Mexico (for example Bob,2005;CleaverArquilla 1998; Schulz 1998;Ronfeldt, 1998; in rebellion is example 1994Zapatista the well-researched themost Probably on. history movements buildingorganizationsblocks (SMOs),the movementlarge weresocial of social scale 2005). web sites, bulletin boards and chat rooms, emerging in thebeginning of the 90s (Bimber weree-mail, catalyzing this process orlocation. instruments The size, purpose, regardless of movements of all kinds for easier became deliberation and organization Communication, iscontested. seldom infact do it can that fact the action, collective transforms Internet 1.1 Charles Tilly, in his populardefinition grasps socialmovements as 1. Advantages and disadvantages of the Internet in facilitating participation The first organizations to effectively use the Internet for facilitating participation on a on participation for facilitating Internet use the effectively to organizations The first Online activism Online Although 5 (Kriesi 1996, p152). SMOs were taking advantage of the Internet from itsfrom SMOs were early of Internet takingthe advantage 1996,p152). (Kriesi scholars may debate on the specific ways and the degree to which the .(1984, p306) where insurgents in where insurgents Mexican villagea remote managed to 5 “a sustained series of et al. et CEU eTD Collection citizensKaye (Johnson, 2003).Via stimulating and interest fuelingit discussion, raises the inbecomingpoliticspolitics, with fellow general, citizens deliberation more about and active in interest of level in ahigher resulting consequently but knowledge, political of levels consumption politicalof information online doeshelp the citizens innot only obtaining higher 2005). movementpublics for circulation the alternativeof newsandinformation 2003; (Kidd Juris of creatingradical network social up, of aworldwide dozens IMCs were set soon after other in in centre the wakeof (IMC),Indymediawas setup WTOprotests Seattle the 1999, and (Cantijoch 2009). by elites traditional established agenda-setting the and discourses mainstream the escaping for allows Internet the on available information The2003). kind(Lebert of content issue-relevant reliable,produce regular, pressure to dramatically reduced requirement for resources (Rucht 2004), andarefor (Rucht resources facing requirement dramatically agrowing reduced have now they Internet, the before long existed media news activist Although media. mass “prototype” for Internetuse by movements (Cleaver 1999). influential most the for time along remained movement Zapatista butthe documented, were activism for use Internet successful of more cases more Web, and reach of the growingthe to and parallel example, Zapatista Following the Internet. the achieved without phenomenon, adiffused system and solidarity protest of which would neverhavebeen a global into alocal rebellion transformed Internet the of capability The globalization. international neoliberal local against manystruggles rebellion Zapatista the and with other momentum as a result of a fast andrights autonomy. greater starting movement, alocal off The as rebellion,gained quickly growing, global network of support that successfully linked These processes are stimulating the engagement of citizens: scholars argued that the that argued scholars citizens: of engagement the stimulating are These processes The Internet offers the users the possibility to avoid the distortions inherent in the inherent distortions the avoid to possibility the users the offers Internet The 6 The first independent media independent first The CEU eTD Collection (Postmes, Brunstig, 2002). andpolitical (Weber, civic engagement, participation recent studies relying on survey data also conclude that the Internethas a facilitating effect on types of sincemore periodby of changed use the observedJennings andZeitner,time but usingbefore they Unarguably,started frequency the Internet. Internetpenetration, the and engaged were civically respondents the in is casewhere the significant muchmoreeffect observed the that out pointed researchers same the Also, Internet. the of introduction the beforeand (1997) after engagement (1982) look atthe differenceslongitudinal of to analysis effects on of fifteen 1997 also yearsfrom thatInternetaccess1982 to concluded had indeedpositive several panel 2003). The aperiod conductedbyKentJennings VickiZeitner and (2003)over survey indicators – an for society degree of engagement (Mossberg, resultoverall unarguably positive of civic engagement. In their research the authors used a despite the fact that they are isolated from from the isolated are they that fact the despite individuals,other and individuals’thereby behavior and cognitions can behighly social into consideration that argue if be contradictionthe authors the wetake Turner resolved 1986;that 1987), can Turner social Tajfel, (see theory behavior self-categorization and identity social of findings upon Building doescollective. not just stem fromaddressing the question how amedium of isolates that individual the can inspire the the immediate proximity from thefield (2002) approached a social-psychological action perspective, of online of civic (Nie,Erbring, Postmes activities andBrunsting Dahlgren 2001; Diani 2000; 2000). individualizingusers, effect on decreased which may lead participation to in political and an has also Internet the on reliance that suggest results survey other engagement, Contrasting the abovefindings emphasizewhich the ofinrole facilitating Internetthe 7 direct et al. influence of others in their group 2003; Wojcieszak 2009). et al. CEU eTD Collection 6 research group at Northwestern University, the WebUseProject the atNorthwestern University, research group inequality. of examples One mostthe structured investigating of the field is Hargittai’sEszter lives and in particular, how differences in digital media uses may contribute to social media andotherdigital everyday intheir people theInternet how use of questions with these studies dealt of publications,awiderange (Norris timeof these not Since the whodo 2001). ‘democratic divide’ atleastis therethat a limited 2000),or mentionedthe impact fields (Putnam on robust 1995, between those people a having only entertainment, mainly to useisrestrained Internet the that suggested voices who use the Internet democraticfor processes, social movementspolitical and civic activities in general. Some influential aims and those 1.2 Internet. changes of the dynamic the optimistic andpessimistic opinions, and the studies supporting them, while keeping inmind prominent most the present I chapter, next the In manner. fast extraordinarily an in changing potentials of the Internet, the subject of their study by itself (and alsoin relation to its users)the is about opinion their formed scholars while and aspects, many has engagement citizen with including surveys, focus andgroups in-person observation. Thenumerous publications from questions via systematically a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methodological tools The Web Use Project - Project Use Web The The optimistic and skeptical pointsof view The debate between optimistic and pessimistic views on the Internet in connection Internet the views on pessimistic and optimistic between The debate Throughout the history of the Internet, scholars were assessing its potentials for potentials its assessing were scholars Internet, ofthe history the Throughout http://www.webuse.org/projects/index.html 8 6 , which addresses these , which addresses CEU eTD Collection relevant. ’activists’. In my thesis I distinguish social actors online as cyber-activists, when a distinction is activists. Often they are not separated from their offline counterpart, therefore referred to simply as 7 engagement via the Internet. More recently, supporters of this claim turned to the relevantthe to More turned claim recently,of this viasupporters Internet. engagement the potential easeof aboutthe arguments supportingRheingold with 2001), theirclaims 1998; 2000; Valovic (Negroponte Internet onthe civicactivities of in range engaged awide in Internetthe simplifying the for personalexpressionsways public in sphere and gettingthe (Van Laer 2007). efforts andmobilization toenhance coordination rangeof ICTs and digital Internet a broader mobilizedemonstrationmass make wanting fororganizations to a extensive useof street the movement social how effectively to interest turned of a typical action. Anexample research nature of by the collective madepossible changes Internet variety the new kindsof action of “cyberactivism” of cases on a rich body research of to giving place 2005; Gastil mainfocusamore 2000), the fieldthe of gradually empirical to shifted direction, potential for equalizing aswellboosting the level 1995; participation of (Schwartz Brants indeed havea proves nature, strong to andnon-hierarchical appears inits easily accessible Althoughlevel which1998). of technical an features the Internet, the (Barber, unprecedented to by increasing massparticipation profoundly, of change functioning democracy thewhole media2010). (Hargittai adults (Freese adults (DiMaggio researchthe help group building more amuch about nuanceddigital picture inequality Social actors online have been called many names, for example: e-activists, online activists, or cyber- One side of the early optimistic viewpoints emphasized the generalized positive role of role positive thegeneralized emphasized viewpoints early optimistic One of the side Initially, the most optimistic scholars found the Internet to be an instrument able to et al. et al. 2004; Hargittai, Hinnant 2008; Hargittai 2004;Hargittai,use 2008; Hargittai Internet of 2008), the Hinnantolder 2006) and also young the natives’ ‘digital whohave grown up with digital 9 7 , and the ways how the how ways the and CEU eTD Collection need to getpermanently Whileneed Bimber (2001) engaged. acknowledging this problem, to who after the particular action they supported is over often choose to move on and don’t feel a Schussman (2003) noticed thatin many forms of online activism ‘members’ become ‘users’, platformis a generally theInternet exit, therefore easy to areso communities because such stable thatbe cannot Internet the on sustained and created structures the found he does as participation online not strengthenInternet-based efforts can persist over time. Galston (2000), for example, was skeptical about grassroots movements tospring for upquickly awhile,and operate itis unsure whether such community enables newis itInternet Although the clearthat in literature. question is a debated the also and time over action collective Internet-based of sustainability the people, inactive previously on activism in the longCardenal 2011). run. voluntary political for information 2009),or (Borge, participation requests (Cantijoch Earl and include arguments effectssuchasto chanceofinvoluntary positive the elevated the exposure 2003; McNeal WeareTolbert, 2003; 2004;Cantijoch Stanley, The 2009). supporting Ward Carpini inactive (Delli 2000; before or which groups were under-represented mobilizing in is effective Internet the that holds thesis mobilization the this, to Opposed (Cardenal Hill,2011; 1998; 2000;Weber Hughes Norris likeeducation. status, socio-economic tothe related samevariables related tothe are Internet instances of civic engagementsuch as participatingin and accessingpolitics andusing engagementeasier toreinforceimbalancesin only works the existing participation, as Nam According to first, rolemaking theInternet’s instudy by recent the (2012). Taewoo in asexplainedand a mobilization, can be as between reinforcement grasped dilemma the sub-question beneficiariesof the who of Thetwosides impact are. positive this of debate the Apart from the skeptical viewpoints debating the mobilization potential debatingof potential viewpoints Internet the mobilization the from Apart skeptical the 10 et al. 2003; Curtice, Norris 2004). et al. CEU eTD Collection of of satisfyonline virtual arguing activism, desire that demonstrations cannot for protesters the thislimitations stress Van andFoederer (2001) de Donk its counterpart. offline compared to Netherlands. positiveyoungoffline effecton in among participation Italy, people andthe Spain 2007 by Calenda and Meijer(2009)concluded online that participation indeed has a strong convince them to participate publics not broad itwith does online, automatically mean it becomesthat equally easy to in offlineconnect to easier potentially becomes ifit even forgot: activities. often early cyber-optimists fact that the to points finding This Onnon-existent. theis practically activity Internet of other effect independent hand, a survey conductedweb use on traditional participation, concluded in that after controlling for other factors, the different conclusions. For example Scheufele and Nisbet (2002), in their study of the effect of Multiple empirical studies were conducted to find out the extent of this effect, often coming to opportunity to a broader public to mobilize public 1999; a broader Bennett (Ayres to opportunity to events easier, asorganizing activities becomes moreeffective andless costly, providing the real-life and activities on information of dissemination the making by participation traditional enhancing generally is participation online that argue Optimists in nature. ambivalent quickly be builtup again 2006:p211). (Garrett can group whenneed asimilar that will arises, the know participants process: a natural importantin the particular setting. This should not be seen as a failure of the organization, but through a singlehis will feature. Accordingto suggestion, spring groups decentralized up andremainactive political perhaps suggests that a whole newmodel because ismainly of of emerging SMOs this effort, and then fade away as soon as the issue ceases to be Typically, scholars do not agree on the extent to which online action can even be which agree onthe to notTypically, can even extent action online scholars do In connection with traditional (offline) participation, the effect of the Internet is of Internet the effect the participation, (offline) traditional with In connection 11 et al. 2008, Van Laer 2007). CEU eTD Collection interpersonal networks cannot be adequately forged and maintained online. The argument that The maintained online. andargument be forged cannot adequately networks interpersonal vital arguing that years in Internet, early if the the contested being thatwas modern ICTs easily. theprocess streamlines more peopleof mobilization because likeminded political canconnect likely him, accordingto structure of observation: a different this viewpointSunstein’s users of including emphasizesa widerrangeoffactors (2009) race,ageandgender.Rogerson between communication facilitating heterogeneous, more is significantly communication findings arequite the of Rheingold’swhoopposite observedonline(2000), that These opinions. of larger array a with confronted is potentially audience casesthe latter in the that arguing media, print and broadcast interactions, real-world with communication online of feature be acharacteristic to is said that phenomenon this contrasts Sunstein ideas. havedifferent who heldby views a range of those excluding place,first therefore in the views similar have who individuals to discussion and information of scope the limits it is that discourse public has on Internet the that effects negative neglected theoften of one that 2002). & Brunsting (Postmes action offline to alternative equivalent an action online that considered in sample the therespondents because view, this strengthen to seem concluded activists and of Theresults non- activists a survey becomeevents of lessapparent. environmental release isfrustration emphaseson real-life and thatthe activists their energy onlineto going cyber when phenomenon the protestsis exactly activism traditional threatens what that out pointing effect, replace is opposite the for Ramtin arguing Amin(2010) emotional the real-lifeaction.real, physical of thrill protests. According to him, the most prominent effect of The high potential for maintaining international communication is another aspect of aspect another is communication international maintaining for potential high The argued (2001) viewpoints, Sunstein overwhelmingly the Being criticaloptimistic of 12 CEU eTD Collection individuals who have similar views in the first place, the question of whether Internet-based whether of question the place, first in the views similar have who individuals to discussion and information isof the scope limiting Internet the that concern action, the the changes in the reach ofthe issues detailedthe above in the context of SNSs: theInternet, reinforcement versus mobilization thesis, the issue of comparing online and offline formsdifferentpossibilities by provided early the networkingsocial sites. of networking sites such as Facebook, nottomention differencesthe in and structure the the social totoday’s inferior immeasurably theirwas reach existed, Tripod.com already them now. Although building early communities like SNSs aimedat theGlobe.com or formsinexist the networking weknow social of seconddidthe not services 1990s, the part in Internet is difference of context the services,the social similarly During networking huge. World Statistics 2011). If atthevaliditywe look of findingsPutnam’s inthe contemporary in (IDC,Internet America, in whole North and61.3% Europe 78.6% population, reaching the of third one isapproaching rapidly rate the same nowadays research, aforementioned exceeded in Internet penetration had just rate the worldthe time of 1%during the place.overall While the took research wherePutnam’s States, evenUnited inthe adopters, early considered be can users Internet all which during one as considered be still can time from originated between Life Style surveys DDBNeedham the of and 1998.This 1996 period On the other hand, it hasother Americans tovolunteer, tospend timewith totrustfriends, oneanother” to be pointed out that news likelythan for areless primarily ontheInternetwho”respondents say thattheyrely the data on which his originates from Robert Putnam In Bowlinghis(2000). book Alone, he concludesthat conclusions rely Internet the on light apessimistic shedding thereby it, itdiminishes actually contrary, the on are online consumption of political information haspositive no effectcivic on but engagement, In nextthe section, introducing after anddefiningsocial networkingfocus sites, I on 13 (2000, 479). CEU eTD Collection more users. People spend 23 minutes on Facebook perday March Facebook minutes average. In more Peopleon 2012, spend 23 on users. world according to the site inthe is most popular second Facebook the currently ago. million more ayear 154 than Alexa traffic rankings,reaching monthly staggering active 901million active ausers,and526million users, daily with Google being in age the (over members, of emailaddress.Thattriggered arapidgrowth an 13) with the sole website thatany person was madeavailable In publicly to September 2006 the site in States. the United has Facebook. thegeneral population, target (Raynes-Goldie,Walker 2008).Inmy focusbiggest sitesthesis, I network social on the that rights human and poverty as such issues social in addressing interested users for services group of users. instance, and For TakingITGlobal.org offer YouthNoise.org network social a particular target sites other while population, general the thattargets Facebook as such definitionincludesbroad 1997 (boyd, 2007).This Ellison a ofwebpages:sites wide range in launched site wasSixDegrees.com, network social firstrecognizable this the definition, connections made and those by within others the system (boyd, According Ellison, 2007). to other users a constructs public orsemi-public profilea bounded within articulates system, (2) a listof with whom they relation the profileto 2006:p12).Thereby,a site (Boyd shouldifbe considered it:SNS an (1) share displayedin a network social publicly articulated a traversable and profile, commentary on the connection, and (3) views and1.3 traverses its list of participation. efforts can persist over time, and the implications of the radically decreased efforts needed for Implications forsocial sites networking Facebook was Facebook founded in 2004 andoriginally was availableuniversity only to students A “social network site” is a category of website with profiles, semi-persistent public semi-persistent website with isa site” profiles, of A “socialnetwork category 14 CEU eTD Collection registration, nofurther requirements are needed for any of kind self-expression strengthen platforms(Schäfer 2011).Shirky ofeasy-to-use emergence further thatthe (2008) emphasizes thisaction collective and collaboration emphasizing about is all 2.0 Web possibility, emphasized, was visitors in addition to original authors. While in the website by context content of of theand originalco-creation and web participation interactivity facilitate to built websites theencapsulates use of Facebook is inmy analysis. Facebook on focus my justify figures These a profiles. good example 64,2% of line 50,4% on the States, of population . In United the peoplehave Facebook for users, whichHungary had Facebook million equals 3.97 39,7% of population, whole the and that: after diversity seeHargittai online, (2007) andPariser (2011)). detailed explanationactivism onsocial network sites behas to keptin mind while drawing (for conclusions a calls filter the bubble. Thelimitations stemming from these foralgorithms the potential ofthat the ways Pariser that a phenomenon creating thereby clickinghabits, previous upon our feedbuilds thesenews one’s on appears content algorithmswhich selecting for algorithm Facebook’s often. more friends work of news click he his Facebook feed,because on to his liberal linksandposts tended the and for an liberal explainsauthor overview how contents shared by hisconservative friends had disappeared from of foundin besites thebook, Eli Bubble(2011).Theself-identified recent can Filter Pariser’s content (Hargittai vividillustration2000: p2).A of phenomenoninthe networking social the case of ‘availability’ means mere existence, ‘accessibility’ implies relative ease of reachability that arguing users, of reach the within is realistically andwhat Internet, the on available SNSs areinherently of Webparts conceptthe of which 2.0 (O’Reilly 2005), Hargittai stresses the importance of distinguishing between what is theoretically what between of distinguishing theimportance stresses Hargittai 15 . CEU eTD Collection popularsocial networking most the site in Brazil was Decemberuntil 2011, when Orkut and Facebook finally surpassed it. renren.com), is China in site networking social leading (The Facebook 8 political help media outthatsocial bring articulated by He points about can (2011). Shirky the content can from of be therefore Facebook. searched outside site, the registration andto is contentposted the inby beingcached group the Google, a valid be without can reached groups and the pages Facebook, of settings current with the bein promoting noted information hasthough, that to and participation general. diffusing It action, collective in analyze the and organizing platform it useful to is legitimate that indeed if – suggests – the younger ingeneration we focus increase numberof users especially on the being angenerally accessed 2011). World platform Still,(Internet Stats ongoing rapid the penetrationthe in higher becomes significantly (25,6% caseof the Europe), only reaches 10,3 percentof world’sthe population. While if atparticularwe look regions, a limited although reach: numberof usersworldwideisthe it increasing,active rapidly still it has still being vastly although popular, Forexample, in participation. facilitating Facebook, (Gibson participation for information, political requests and to exposure and involuntary voluntary facilitating by mobilization on effect an have still may sites networking social but degree, smaller exclude information,not political newsfeed. the toa Still,algorithms do soalthough the all will our on appear moretime, content similar next chance that inan elevated directly results the context of social networking sites as well. Clicking on content concerning activism Different countries have different popular SNSs. For example China is yet to be conquested by A unique view on the effectiveness of SNSs and social media in mobilization was in mobilization media social and SNSs of effectiveness the on view A unique in caseparticularly and of this SNSs, visible disadvantages There areclearly in thesis mobilization versus reinforcement the for implications have These concerns et al. 2005; Borge, Cardenal 2011). 16 8 it is still far from CEU eTD Collection would vote (Hampton would vote likely persuadeto someone on their vote, and an additional 43% more likely haveto said they more 57% meeting, or rally a political attend to likely more times half and two additional of other SNS platforms,likelymorehave to voted intended vote.or to Compared with Internetusers, andother users a Facebook user who meeting,influenceto attend more vote,and try someone’s a political likely and 78% 53% to uses the site multiplelikely as in twice were over users Internet general vote. intended to they had or that reported times per day was an forvote convince aspecificto candidate, and66% they hadreported that someone to tried that theyhad 23% apolitical rally, reported heavily:Americans attended 10%of more boostingindeed and politicalengagement, use networking thatsocial the of even sites do so American citizenshighly concludedfindings are that issupporting the thesis internet the that easily. traced be often identities can offline because an from SNS, acause joining from force restricting environment (if the ability to be monitored by the governmentis known by the users) can be a political a real percievedrepressive but or of pointfrom research, aspect the scholars, agood general as tools for political action has to do with privacy. SNSs can be easily monitored byitis auseful and usable toolfor mobilization. CEU on January if particular16, 2012: activists areusingatool it proves on Internet, the that that they indeed do. and show trends indeedmatter, they will Ethanuse themaccordingly, stepsto take tools and these Zuckerman articulated of in believe utility the activists If thinkcan. they andgovernments change becausepeople a similar opinion on a lecture he gave at A by survey Pewresearch was the centre that conducted in November 2010among In assessing potential EMS impact, an important critique of SNSs and social mediain et al. et 2011). 17 CEU eTD Collection even in detailed definitions like this one. this like definitions indetailed even attainingtowards asocietal change. The grey zone between activism and slacktivism isvisible activism, which is defined distinguish from practical slacktivism in authors the activity. person,engagedThe the as the use of a direct, proactivevia social media, whose purpose is raiseto awareness, produce change, orgrant satisfaction to and often confrontationalplatforms. Rotman et al.for example (2011) define slacktivism aslow-risk, low-cost activity action amount of effortit needs, and also the greater impact it has (Jordan, Taylor 2004). 2011). For example, hacking websites is in thedefinitely former category, because of the ithardlyis that notall debated should activism beconsideredonline slacktivism (Christensen impact,world boundaries the between activism and slacktivism online rather blurry: become little real- and same produce atthe time little effort require that activities as online slacktivism are preformed online. Ithas tobe noted though, that if we stick to the definition that evaluates that activities political or civic describing term a general is slacktivism discourse in popular (2012)find generally, that More Breuer andFarooq commitmenton behalf of slacktivist. the of lack the of symbol a became slacktivism discourse, popular in the shifted: also slacktivism something with much more of a pejorative sense, as the main difference between activism and scale becameit more(Christensen phrase into2011). By timethe popular,turned the form, term in the describewas used aimedsociety bottom-up ataffecting to activities, a small Dwight Ozard were using it in 1995, as a short version of slacker activism.1.4 In that original In other contexts, the term is often exclusively associated to the social media social tothe associated is often exclusively theterm contexts, In other The ‘slacktivism’term wasoriginally used with a positiveFred connotation: Clarkand Slacktivism and Activism 18 CEU eTD Collection regard – neither of these actions accomplishes much. accomplishes actions –neitherthese of regard insticker bumper that upa and putting ‘liking’ online a cause statement by makinga between difference minimal a is only there Also, ground. losing is place takes activism/slacktivism (Nielsen distinctionthe meansthat2011). This based uponthemedium of on which act the altruist intention to effectively contribute to the cause. Indeed, there is a widely held widely a is there Indeed, cause. the to contribute effectively to intention altruist political issueonline interestpursue theselfish of gaining social prestige rather than the who asocial such isthatthose concern express presumption underlying accusations about or (2011) argues peoplethat engage in slacktivism for selfish narcissistic and purposes. The effort,or while in onlinethe it environment is meaningless andeffortless. engagement such as signing a petition or even voting in real life shouldbe seen as a great risk retributions from justified. Svensson even further(2011) goes by arguing that in where of democracies authorities threats rarelyslacktivism occur, toit social is hard networking to see sites,why classical and even to the measures broad category of civicof Internet use is not a wearing the ’kokárda’ (cocarde) around March 15th 2002 –may play asubstantial role. 9 users suggests thatthe social networking site is rapidly from beingturning an of growth Facebook active unprecedented tendency of lives. outlined aspects of The their using incommunication they that are accustomed other engagementto incivic channels and peoplepoint Copeland (2011)out, be should expectedtoemploy samesetthe of Rotman as place, takes action the sites onwhich network social of platform the primarily it Is ones. activist from practices slacktivist distinguish However, for example in periods of extreme political polarization in Hungary, symbolic acts such as mundane Making the distinction on the grounds of the motivation of slacktivists, Morozov Building on this definition of slacktivism, I attempt to grasp that slacktivism,to Building keyfeatures the I attempt on definition this of tool like e-mails and newsletters for an ever larger proportion of society the larger proportion for anever newsletters e-mailsand like 19 9 Therefore, I argue that constraining that I argue Therefore, et al. (2011)suggests? As Bimber emerging tool to CEU eTD Collection Haiti, the International Red Cross (IRC) launched a campaign asking people to donate money devastated that 2010earthquake the after same time, Atthe 190). 2011, pp person (Morozov million members,managing toraise a total lessof $12,000, than one-hundredth of a penny per Africa,has called 1.7 up onFacebook Childrenof which Savingarguments isthe the pageset his in uses often Morozov that example particular The activities. real-life meaningful more mightit have for slacktivism, because of grounds effect engagedin ongetting detrimental the receiveup beseen also asfertile are primarily should causes set to donations that argues that manner clear goals behind awareness raising, the likely outcomes of engaging in causes in a istask. useful a problematic into action turning awareness Inthesecases, selves. idealized – by expressing itis acause,whetherpublicly their affiliation of part with theirreal self or description bylistingmore andhobbies, forpersonal interests or– importantly their thispoint ways shaping identity,theirof online engaging cultural suchas inenumerative self- implicit heavily on waymore find people rely authors that the me” Instead, “about blurb. in forthe asof description example oneself a narrative identity appear explicitshaping would site, networking social a On explicitly. than rather identity, online their shaping implicitly by “liking” usepeople pagesasmeansof joining theacts indeedoften for campaigns al. et concludesby that study (2008) Zhao phenomenon:asociological reason behind the aninteresting identifying ofthis procedure, thatconfirm existence the are empirical studies findpeoplenot further might in to anyreason engage 2011). There (Morozov givencause the acause), ‘liking’ (i.e. taken stepwas initial the once this, of Asaresult al. 2008). et (Manago personalities of instead actual their selves, idealized and communicate create to sites areused by assumption, supported analyses,profilescontent suggests that that onsocial networking Following a similar logic, Morozov (2011) explains how situations where there are no are there where situations how explains (2011) Morozov logic, a similar Following are raising funds, or mere spam. Taking a somewhat radical stance, Morozov even 20 slacktivist CEU eTD Collection not only on the individual slacktivists. individual the on only not bethem, on so, partly do blame should level. than fail to the they It aggregate the on valuable actively, at or least touse the of the organization to find the reasonmost to think that the convenient way to try engage 2012).policy making Concerninglevelno Farooq there is the (Breuer, of organizations, the passive formal of citizensmacro-level the also and organizations, of moremeso-level the also but individuals, of micro-level the only not involvement low-risk and low-cost of phenomenon the at look seen as activism first, which happens placeto take in digital the realm 2011). (Nielsen be should activism or slacktivism digital of regardless all, After Hour. Earth or Day Nothing such asBuy inisboycotts short–term part and sotaking instancesslacktivism, considered of fridge bracelets putting upbumperstickersshould magnets,and or be support all wearing category for slacktivism.join I Christensen (2011) in arguing that offline activities such as includes offlinethe is there world aswell, or no for distinguishing sufficient ground a dangerous digital sibling hecalls is slacktivism –this meaningful why more are which activities in real-life members toengagegroup it efforts the can that hebutundermine articulates rather bad thing, activity in is(Cashmore total arguing not 2010).Morozov money isinherently thatdonating a be which hardly million hadcan seen dollars earthquake,$7 a pointless beenraised, as the low- and daysafter Four of participants. behalf the low-risk on sacrifice large notrequiredoes a a action that cost of definition the fits that act an – message text via efforts, relief towards However we define the boundaries between activism and slacktivism, it isit to betweenactivism wedefineHowever and slacktivism, important boundaries the sense inbe abroader that shouldeither slacktivism defined I arguethat Consequently, slacktivist ” of of 2011:189-190). activism (Morozov power of slacktivism of power can not be motivated for further engagement. It is the task is the It engagement. further for motivated be not can 21 from from small individual are thatcontributions “ the more CEU eTD Collection “valuable slacktivism”. my case studyof action. This willof bridge the theoreticalEMS, part of my thesis with the thirdto part, where forrepertoires online activism forms four classification Ipresent chapter in the next citizens, I presentshow how certain tools can be applied, in order to achieve To look atwhatTo look for areavailable tools mobilizing organizing on Internet the and 22 CEU eTD Collection distribution, research, culturalproduction,fundraising, lobbying, subgroups: following the into Internet the of use conventional movement’s various oncategorizing concentrates research of Costanza-Chock’s part A distinct in an environment. offline of contention sametypes between the 14) differentiation (1998: Sidney mirrors Tarrow’s classification This categories. betweenthese boundaries the of nature ‘soft’ the out pointing while strategies, violent and disruptive, conventional, between Costanza-Chock’s classification 2.1 model. same in the forms offline and online both contains that classification deal exclusivelyforms online with action, of while Postmes (2002)presenta and Brunstig used for offline The action. classificationsvan Laerof andvan Aelst and (2009), Vegh (2003) presentchapter,four I different classifications.builds Costanza-Chock (2003) uponamodel modes is a groundit for distinction, in put some while samethe model In 2000). (Bimber, this aspect of diverse forms of collective action. In some cases the separation of online and offline outcomes. outcomes: movement of categories three proposes in Staggenborg their to be outcomes. relation described (1995), creating inby framework Staggenborg Suzanne a can on Internetthe which activism Chock combines thiscategorization classificationwith the movementof outcomes, developed 2. Costanza-Chock (2003) classifiedforms (2003) of electronic Costanza-Chock distinguishing contention, Classifications foronline repertoires activism of action We can find numerous classifications in the literature, each highlighting findWe classifications a in can literature, different the numerous Under the first category are direct legislative or institutional impacts, which include impacts, institutional or legislative are directcategory first Under the political andpolicyoutcomes, mobilizationoutcomes, 23 representation, information and tactical uses. Costanza- uses. and cultural CEU eTD Collection vertical axis represents the role of the Internet, ranging from Internet supported action, where supported from Internet ranging Internet, the of therole axis represents vertical use the scale: authors a two-dimensional In thisclassification, the andVan Aelst2009:231). Laer (Van warfare) guerrilla terrorism, (hijacking, crime political severe of instances not also orthodox political participationthe scope of these (i.e.actions limiting action, collective of repertoire the‘new’ focusing on voting activism, typology Internet of and tactics or being to those a member thata developed reason,they For this significantly. action repertoire shaped the collective are of outsidea political the realm party), of social movements conventional but are or 2.2 Internet. of the information research,cultural distribution, fundraising,production,lobbying, tactical and uses the implementing above, described contention electronic of conventional categorization matrix. atactic/outcome within actions by mightbenefitlocating contention with various via outcomes, andillustrated casestudies how empirical research on electronic are tactics paired in various amodel which proposes Constanza-Chock and tactics outcomes, or beneficiaries" ways amongapublicthatextendsbehaviors, ofthinking beyondmovement and constituents while third,the mobilization outcomes legislation, theimplementation2003). The (Costanza-Chock, or second,existingof policies social movementcontributions topolicy agenda setting, passage the blockage or of specific In their study Van Laer and Van Aelst’s classification reveal usedbyEMSusing the In to thetactics EMS, Iattemptanalyzing cultural outcomes (Staggenborg 1995: (Staggenborg p341). Building upamatrix of electronic contention , Jeroen Van Laer and Peter Van Aelst (2009) argue that the Internet has Internet the argue that (2009) VanAelst Peter Laerand Van , Jeroen Cyber-protest and civil society: the Internet andactionrepertoiresCyber-protest andcivilsociety:theInternet in refers to the mobilization of tothemobilization of refers of groups people incollective action, is a broader category isabroader including 24 "changes insocialnorms, "changes CEU eTD Collection activists. andthecreativity innovations by are permanently of lines redefined technological that fluid rather but forms of activism, between different the divisions andstable noclear are there variable: of adichotomic than endpoints a scale, rather two be the seenas should instances activism, which exists solelybecause the capability of makes Internetthe it possible of forms ‘new’ the category contains The latter 1). (Figure basedInternet action action, to collective offline traditional withof rolesupporting a primary facilitator ismerely a Internet Figure 1:Overview of both Internet-supported andInternet-based types of action used by social movements. (VanLaer, VanAelst 2009) 25 The two CEU eTD Collection The authors argue that the seemingly paradoxical way that individual acts are referred to as to individual arereferred acts way that paradoxical seemingly the arguethat The authors writing). letter and civildisobedience, sabotage, (i.e. solitary relatively can be undertaken that members of a group labor(i.e. disputes, demonstrations, mass and versus actionspetitioning) many of participation require the actionsthat between distinction the capturing collectivistic, matrix as are online In forms. theirmodel, first axis the from ranges individualistic to in same the are pictured action collective Types of offline be pictured. can action collective Brunsting (2002)developed another two-dimension scale on which varyingthe forms of 2.3 taken into account – a combination of points that has implications to the study of EMS. be should and risk commitment measured,isof acombination whenthreshold argue that function between possibleFirstly, outthe it distinction points the with online. tactics accompanied always are almost today offline actions realms, that arguing onlinethe and offline (Klandermans stress Collom 1997;Marsh 2003). Theauthors between connection the 1977; effortthe needed for participation was previously used in an offline environment 1998). Thedistinction forms (McAdam participation basedon between action Tarrow 1986; risk than more others.containing and/or commitments, of levels higher require The action of forms some that fact result of this is the lower or higher thresholds for people to consider In the process of examining how the Internet transforms collective action, Postmes and Postmes and classification Brunsting’s aspects. several from important is classification this my thesis, of viewpoint the From The idea behind the second axis,low from high threshold to is inthreshold, rooted the of the Internet, an important aspect in animportant aspect Also, the authors beassessed.of which EMSwill Internet, the 26 facilitating function facilitating and the and creating CEU eTD Collection actions, which makeactions, whichformsin more up dominant of terms action the collective of online less confrontational while newsworthy, mostbe the tendsto sector inthat activism media, as in in model the corner argue theconfrontational-individualistic largelyis the overrepresented forms. Theauthors sabotage) blockade, or confrontational (demonstration, to petitioning) outcome. intendedof a as when are thought as collectiveachieving innature a meansof collective they be can action forms of collective asindividual necessarily problematic, is not action collective Figure 2:Examples ofOffline Collective ActionsandDimensionsAlong WhichThey May Vary, Plus Examples of Comparable Forms of Action Online. (Postmes & The second axis ranges from persuasive (such as letter writing, and lobbying, asletter The second from persuasive (such axis ranges Brunsting 2002) 27 CEU eTD Collection and online activism is predominantly non violent and persuasive. 10 and number tobenumber of of tend less participants covered. actions, prominently 2003). In some cases the actors are members of a strictly defined group (like an NGO), but the whichnetworks, distribution becan usedfor mobilization organization and purposes. gathering anddistributing alternative information can also be seen as ofbuildinga process of process same the that out points Vegh that, to addition In information. alternative of source asa be seen can theInternet context, inthis acause: information concerning distributing 2.4 two persuasivefields,the quadrants the lefton the matrix.side of the in Internet of role the the they emphasize Therefore, ineffective. action online confrontational persuasive actions inboth offlinepeople andonlineenvironments,that find tend to confrontational outempirical that study actions areconsiderably than less popular also point movements, influencing andmobilizing apotentially vast audience. Thefindings of their roleand the alternative also online ofself-produced newsby Brunstingemphasize each general area, starting from starting each general area, Iexplain one. to from reacting an action initiating between and calledupon, being from action direction organization/mobilization;action/reaction and This observation is extended to the offline forms of actions as well, pointing out that both offline both that out pointing well, as of actions forms offline the to extended is observation This Online advocacy focuses on organizing the movement and carrying out action focuses Online (Vegh, onmovementand carrying advocacy the organizing out There are cases when the traditional channels of information are not sufficient for sufficient not are ofinformation channels cases traditional the There are when Vegh (2003) identifies three areas of Internet activism: identifies Vegh threeareasof Internet (2003) Vegh’s Classification ofinitiative, distinguishing between senders ofinformation and receivers, callsfor awareness/advocacy. 28 . The typology aims at emphasizing the Awareness/advocacy; 10 Postmes CEU eTD Collection reason why Vegh (2003) suggests a balanced approach involves actual scrutinizing the that balanced approach a suggests reason why Vegh (2003) the is This opinion. general or official, the of that with collides self-definition community’s ahacker intheinstances example wherefor confusion most causing are highlydiversified, definitions of hackers and of groups field,activists. In this methodsandideologies forms, the self- different the upon touching category, this into falls that activism online of diversity motivated’. both politicallyandfinancially defines as a ‘ problemthe with popularthe understanding of kindof this Internet use,which he broadly which are otherwise often categorized as hacktivism Vegh himself(Samuel, 2004). out points manner). in to thetarget a coordinated aspamming(e.g. send areaskedmessages to participants where unwanted campaign and, hasthirdly, for letter), anonline call notraditional directthat action offline counterpart. a of instead a stakeholder, for e-mail an writing for call a example (for environment action happensbut normally that offline canbe more done in efficiently an online call action, for offline for call sub-categories: into three isfurtherdown broken Mobilization regimes (Vegh,2003). of oppressive at government the be itcan targeted or influence opinion, worldwide to attempt body, an legislative at government’s itthe aimed can beeither forms: three take as well, can for onlineLobbying be which vital advocacy.on of Internet, the seenasa can part advocacy loosely using activists Internet the for aretheclassical The Zapatista groups defined example neededbeinput isthat of (McCaughey &Ayres of topart lowthe agroup threshold 2003). an aswell, definedas loosely moreeffect makes connect partly groups it possibleInternet to The third category, The second area of Internet activism in Vegh’s model ismodel inVegh’s activism Internet areaof The second …more proactive andaggressive use oftheInternetto achieve agoal that can be action/reaction (Vegh 2003: 75). He goes on (Vegh He goeson demonstrating2003: 75). the is the field of acts such as DDoS attacks, acts 29 organization/mobilization. enmasse CEU eTD Collection these categories in the context of my thesis, Irestrain from going intofurther details. cyberwar), definingdiscussing notencountering and the principles apparentoverlaps. AsIam cybercampaign, (cyberattack, action online ofoffensive sub-categories between the causes as the justification of their actions. The author goes on to explain further distinctions political hackers adopting hackers” whoare “politicized and existing strategy, their already into Internet the adapting whoare activists”, “wired between distinction further Vegh makesa or an ongoing conventional war, the label the war, conventional ongoing an or in question should be in considered question should act the apart conflict, of an existing or condition, an incident or to is a response if context the distinction between the categories of between categories the distinction makea to attempt an In caused. damage the beand attained, to goal the occurrence, examining the identity andof perpetrators the the target, themethod andfrequency of the includes This categorization. for boundaries the determine proper the to online activities hacktivism hacktivism cyberwar . If itis a part of an ongoing militaristic campaign 30 and should be used. In terms of individuals, Cyberwar, Vegh focuses on the context: the on focuses Vegh CEU eTD Collection by the processes of the Hungarian electoral system. electoral Hungarian of the processes the by 11 majority secured atwo-thirds party Fidesz wing conservative incumbent Socialistpushed government political to the the country Hungary’s right: right- for activism on behalf of the EMS organizers. calls maps therangeof that analysis content the result of I presentthe use of EMS, Internet the of evaluation anoverall Before place thegroup. within takes that deliberation success of the asa forby group assessing and discussion debate tool I evaluate EMSFacebook the that, After EMS. of success the elevated that reasons as can be seen that factors of aset invoke and mass precededtwo that of surfacethe on the campaigns of demonstrations, EMSgroup the group. focused Icontinue the on by evaluating EMSFacebook the analysis the online between its offline representationoutline. inI thenchronological thein a law media Hungarian formthe of nature present ambivalent the of by explaining EMS of a series a briefof protests, history and the ofonline the EMSactivity group, with Investigating an emphasisEMS 3. on the parallel alliances with the opposition. the with alliances form to having without changes, economic crucial including legislation, pass to authority the electionsin held April led25 2010,givingFidesz, by ministera former prime Orbán, Viktor The party recieved 53 percent of the popular vote, which was transformed into a two-thirds majority two-thirds a into transformed was which vote, popular of the percent 53 recieved party The 3.1 In 2010 Hungary held parliamentary The elections. recession and angeratthe Hungarian Media Law – atargetof criticism for theemergence providefirst,is I context of The structure thefollowing: this chapter 31 11 in the national parliamentary national the in CEU eTD Collection on news outlets for vague infractions such as the above mentioned infringement on human on infringement mentioned above the as such infractions vague for outlets news on heavy fines authoritiesimpose it governing the because empowers to Fidesz, primarily party from intimidation to vulnerable journalists makes legislation the that out pointed Opponents upon humanreport failsof dignity, publicmorality,on events to offends interest. public or infringes provide media not coverage," "balanced thatdoes electronic and down print, online December 21,2010.This law theMediagrants Council tofine,powers suspend andshut the media law package. The last part of this package was the Media Act, which was passed on dyn/content/article/2010/07/18/AR2010071802529.html website: Post Washington 14 debate/ website: 7,2012 from Politics.hu 13 at found online archive containing awide range information theabout laws and their effectswhich can be 12 phenomenon not seen in Central Europe since the collapse of Communist rule." Post published criticizing aneditorial new Hungary'slegislation, media calling it, "a forThe Washington example immediately, mediareacted respectively. International October, supervisory newandauthority acodelaying contentregulations July out aredelayed to and on the controversial onepassed proposal,only among which parts of the legislativeall Hungarian opposition parties, who submitted 44 amendmentspackage to the bill three days after the that relate parliamentthe by Fidesz MPs on June 14. to the new, powerful media Hungary’s strongest leader targets themedia.(2010,July 19) Retrieved January 7, 2012 from The Opposition parties strongly criticize media billin heated debate.(2010, June 6th) Retrieved January The Center for Media and Communication Studies (CMCS) at CEU compiled a comprehensive Between July and December, the parliament passed a set of laws which were parts of parts were laws which of set a passed parliament the andDecember, July Between As a part of the process As apart of newmedia process country,the the of billwas restructuring to a proposed http://www.politics.hu/20100616/opposition-parties-strongly-criticize-media-bill-in-heated- https://cmcs.ceu.hu/node/26249/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- 13 12 . As an effect of the widespread criticism, the votes The proposed legislation was heavily by criticized 32 14 CEU eTD Collection no leaders, but neither does everyone comment on everything. The content on the message the on content The everything. on comment everyone does neither but leaders, no organizationquestions aboutthe decided arounda are being by hands;table, are there raising independence “The and every organization from party.politically political emerging affiliated organizers 50-70 protest activity, the beginning their of chapter, Ifocus on offline,the activity protest hadbeen that organized by EMSgroup. the supporters within two days, reaching 250 000 supporters to date. days, to within reaching250 000supporters supporters two supportthe flood”, thevictimsof initiative called initiative isnotunprecedented,group phenomenon butdefinitely inthe a new of Hungary:the context 50 reached supporters number of existence,online group’s the growing Such rapidly 000. the victimsof the flood. with a lesser budget, andmultiple cities decided to cancel the whole show, and spend the money on 15 in resulted 40 supporters the3 members on 000 in of rapid number increase the law. exceptionally newmedia The passedthe parliament the members directly. party governing Fidesz elects implies the above, that described majority, circumstances underthe thirdtwo which a with by parliament, yearsformembers nine the elected fiveboard being are authority. The regulatory media telecommunications new, and converged underthe organization placed dignity. The authority imposingresponsible for the fines is Mediathe Council, anindependent The initiative indeed had some degree of impact: although the fireworks didhappen in Budapest, but 3.2 A shortchronology of events reveals the dynamics related to EMS evolution. From the The EMS Facebook group was founded on December 22 2010, the day the after day 22 2010,the groupwasfounded onDecember Facebook The EMS The briefhistory of the EMS group “Use themoney thathadbeen the put asidefor August 22 network100000 organized site, gathered onthesame social 33 rd day,by and 10 the 15 of EMS emphasized their emphasized EMS of In followingthe part of the th day of the Facebook nd fireworks to fireworks CEU eTD Collection http://galamus.hu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58598:marcius-15- website: Galamus website: 2011. Around ten thousand people showed up to support the freedom Around the freedom tenthousand2011. uptosupport peopleof press showed . Heti Válasz) hirek&Itemid=113 mediatoerveny-szervezk-1989-ota-a-legnagyobb-civil-tuentetes&catid=76:hazai-vonatkozasu- 19 website: 18 17 Heti Válasz 16 the among them” by isaneditor trade there all five aprofessionals; isof people, by team being board published demonstration attracted asmallerprotest asan eightthousandestimated crowd, showedupatthe place in 27 less take the weeks,on demonstration would than two protest went down in a peaceful manner, and at the end the organizers announced that the next issue freedom, of elaborated on perceivedpress the speakers in problemswith governmentthe almost50 000participants for demonstration EMS’sbiggest that point. The most optimisticup to estimates about talk Hungary, organized another protestfor EMS thesame cause. of Tens up showed thousands underliningnopolitical that is affiliatedparty with initiative.the Szervez Megintcivileké a voltKossuth a tér.(2011, January 28) Retrieved April 2, 2012,from 168óraonline Tízezren a médiatörvény ellen.January (2011, 14) Retrieved January 7, 2012, from Hírszerz függetlenség. ésa Facebook-csoportok – Ellenzéki millióra Variációk B.(2011,October). Borbás, modification The firstlive protest took place in front of the Hungarian Parliament on the January 14 On ofthe national anniversary the holiday15 March, 1848 revolution in and a http://mandiner.hu/cikk/20110114_tuntettek_a_mediatorveny_ellen http://www.168ora.hu/itthon/megint-a-civileke-volt-a-kossuth-ter-69092.html Ę k-1989 ótaa legnagyobb civil tüntetés.(2011,Márch 15) Retrieved January 7, 2012,from , No.43,pp.17-18 16 18 (interview with Péter Juhász, founder and spokesman for EMSgroup, the andspokesman founder Juhász, with Péter (interview . The non-political nature of the protest had been emphasized several times, several emphasized been had protest the of nature non-political The . of the media law, and for setting up an independent media of upan medialaw,andforindependent The setting the authority. 19 . Although officially the protest was still explicitly addressing the 34 th of January. The second 17 , calling for Ę CEU eTD Collection more recently it became an official party to run on the 2014 elections. 2014 onthe run to party official an became it recently more political civic events. During the time when EMS emerged, it turned towards political activity, and 20 “4K!” movement the for coordinator Andrásissues. exampleFor Istvánffy, other more terms addressed general and also the officethe of the PresidentPál Schmitt, of Hungary against thenew constitution. Again, protest entitled “Don’t sign it, Mister Paul!” (Ne írd alá, Pali bácsi!) was organized in front of askedcarry anyonenot whoattended to symbols of political OnApril 21, asmaller parties. Coalition for Rights(Meleg Koalíció), Gay Egyenjogúságért The manyothers. and organizers ésSzakért (Cigány Politológusok andExperts Political Scientists rangeof including cause, joined the broader of organizations Association the civic Roma sexual orreligion” orientation worldRepublic canrelateregardless to, political affiliation, of view, age,nationality,gender, who everyone event, Facebook the on statement official the to According June. in system) the like don’t (I “nemtetszikarendszer” to finally and April, of beginning in the million) (one “egymillioan” to (for freedom press) the of movedfrom “sajtoszabadsagert” protest the as theofficialblog of onthe isalsorepresented surface, hubonline for opposition.change became civic a the This pattern of inorganizing protests name the of singlethe causeof press freedom, and openly the broke EMS where thepoint This was byIstvánffy. mentioned earlier particularthe cause against democraticthe institutions of Hungary by government. the new constitution was a problematic issue, whereas János Kulka talked of a coordinated attack “4K!” is an organization in Hungary that was active mostly in organizing flashmobs and non- and flashmobs organizing in mostly active was that Hungary in organization an is “4K!” The protest on April 15 was organized inAlkotmány (Constitutionutca with street), “wouldthe Hungarian liketohaveaconstitutionthateverymember of was asked to join. Unlike the previous protests, time this join. protests, previous the Unlike to wasasked 20 , emphasized denying that areferendum the regarding 35 Ę k Szövetsége),the CEU eTD Collection section, next the In group. Facebook the up: sprung itself EMS which I on channel same am the was providing a narrative descriptionbehind values the of European the Union. achieving a higherdegreeof asolid with and ideas fundamental the stance transparency, of the online legislation, democratic jurisdiction, independent law, an electoral the about concerns raising activity The included direction in the propositions program should bechanged,about which policies that was aimed +’. Minimum ‘National the their program, andpresented State, Headof Alternative symbolic at theorganizerson same the protest, new astheplace previous ones.Duringannouncedthe the many people as on previous,the March 15 demonstration at least anniversary as breakout of of thousands Tensof showedup, 1956revolution. the http://www.facebook.com/events/229820553736978/ 22 website: 21 rally.” come toour and movementsto the supportersofalldemocraticpoliticalparties expect whyregime. theorganizers Thisis protest the published that was it group, Facebook the In system’. the like ‘Don’t of name the under demonstration EMS had announced demonstration. the attended hundred people both to civicnumerous but remainedlow, joined, asonlyaround turnout the two organizations the authorities and to the public the date of the next website: 23 From the public eventFacebook of the 23 October protest. Ne írd alá Pali bácsi. (2011, April 21 ) Retrieved April 7, 2012, from Népszava Online Tízezrek a szabad sajtó útján. (2011,Ocober 23)Retrieved April 7, 2012,from NOL The main mobilization channel through which EMS reached out to the potential protesters potential tothe reachedout EMS which channel through The mainmobilization The last mass demonstration organized by EMS to date wasmass helddate March The last to 15 2012, by on organized demonstration EMS A long followed period of passivity last that protest during thesummer. InAugust, http://nepszava.com/2011/04/magyarorszag/ne-ird-ala-pali-bacsi-a-tuntetes-kepei.html http://nol.hu/belfold/tizezrek_a_szabad_sajto_utjan__ne_csak_lajkolj__szervezodj_ “(…)wants toshowthepower ofoppositionagainstOrbán’s 22 The date was October 23, a national holiday, the 21 36 Retrieved: 2012 0522 23 . CEU eTD Collection streaming of the demonstration couldnotbe done, because Ustream, aHungarian site through joinlast calls to included of pictures construction the of process The stage. the planned live videossend members, wasout tothe the organizers. sent to asking thematerial them The to vast majority of comments about the videos were posted on the Facebook page. page,butthe channel of thein Facebook Youtube surface EMSblog,the EMS, and the of on were also andlinkedThe in group posts. uploaded appearedvideos Facebook the on the of the transcripts videos the links to most cases, minutes of long.the In 1-5 were typically event.with logos of date,time aboutthe The videosEMS, details andvenueof protest the and intro outro, group, containing auniform Facebook tothe connected by uploaded a profile media the from of A were freedom the videos and discussing law. press 52 Hungary, of total musicians,writers, scholars, celebrities and other figureswell-known and’common people’ was group dominated by interviewsbrief in theform messagesof video from a widerange of spread information and evenaskfor further contributions from targeted audience.the formobilizeactivities, offline can be used to Facebook the surface of by offered online the don’tlike the system’). This description intends to be an empirical example howof the toolkit 23(‘I fordemonstrationsin theFreedom andOctober 2011:March15(‘Protest Press’), of as well.life real protests the byattending concerns bringing the masses of masses the bringing 3.3 On the day of the protest, the group activity elevated: a call to take pictures and acall take shoot thegroupactivity elevated: to On of day protest, the During the two weeks before the March 15 protest, the wall of the EMS Facebook In this An overview of section, two online protest campaigns I describe the online campaign of EMS for the two mass slacktivists who had already ‘liked’ the page to give voice totheir givevoice to page ‘liked’ the had already who 37 CEU eTD Collection subtitles added to the campaign videos on Youtube. Also, amessage to the supporters of EMS an international bylesseningaudience language barriers the in form the of English language song the of refrain the sing they as themselves record to cameras web using clip, the to faces give to organizers their askedpeople released thenextday.which The participation own was involve themembers in co-production the videothe of for clip song,the acallfor to to try attempt In an 10. itOctober on was released that song campaign the was campaign one. Similar video messages were posted to the group. The most iconic element of the http://www.facebook.com/events/229820553736978/ 24 our rally.” come to partiesandmovementsto political all democratic of organizers expectthesupporters “(…)wants toshow ofoppositionagainstOrbán’s iswhythe power regime. This the namethe like of ‘Don’t group,it In the system’. was Facebook the announced protest thatthe demonstration thepublic authorities dateof to the underannounced next the to and both ingroup place offlinethe world, which took in summer.the August,EMS had During by page time. of the that participantsthe for showing received up.Thepost biggestof amount the ’likes’ in the history all thanking group, Facebook on the note a posted theorganizers protest, the endof the after A fewhours onlinewasundermaintenance. been broadcasted would have the which protest 25 From the public eventFacebook of the 23 October protest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSP81Che1X0 25 . This two-week period was also a time when EMS put an elevated effort in putanelevatedeffort periodaddressing whenEMS wasalso atime . This two-week The two weeks before the protest were in many respects similar to that of similar that were inmanyof previous to weeks beforethe protest respects the The two The project of the October 23 protest ended the relatively passive period of endedEMS of period 23protest theThe projectof relatively the October the passive 24 38 Retrieved: 2012 0522 CEU eTD Collection that was most active in the history of the EMS Facebook group to date. protest. According to the official number whowere joining of supporters pagesoared,reaching the peekontheday the of the Facebook statistics, the werepageby the to the posted posts organizers, the than hundredfar.More separate so a week of October 23 was the week included oravideo. protest apicture shift inreach the way tryingof participants the to could beobserved,one asallbutcallfor A frequent. closer, gotmore they end became andthe time protest the of of as September, of OWS with that of EMS. linking agenda the wasposted, Patric Bruner Press Team organizer Wall Street from Occupy focus on onlinethe realmin work. this dominant more the balance extent some to can illustration of kind this that find I but thesis, the social system that facilitate or constrain movement activity is beyond the scope of my and attributes of local factors global map innumerable An to the popularity.attempt group’s in the increase the whichfueled factors external of category fall underthe that andevents EMSactivists, the behalf of on activities of conscious areresults that factors I present EMS. In this part, Iillustrate In this part, diversethe potential reasonsmobilization behindthe of outcomes 3.4 The factors behind the EMS success group Facebook the of history the in month busiest the was October respects, many In from early itself werebeingposted as were propagating that protest The posts the 39 CEU eTD Collection An indicator of the video reaching a broader publicwhile 5 isreaching abroader that of video the had An indicator the viewer 600 times being hyperlinks inthe with additional embedded video. the displayed, direct of description were event and group Facebook the and protest life real the of details the about information and ascissor that slowly cuts out the orange from the flag. During the second part of the song, Hungarianthe flag with an (thesymbolorange governingthe of party Fidesz) in middle,the of new members. Thisversion songthe of didnot include avideoclip, solely an animation of measure, such havebeen must an publicity part of suddenincreasein the organic number the page), giving amassive of boost publicity EMS.to Although effectthe be would hardto Within hours,YouTube. first 12 3397people the sharedthe videoEMS on Facebook (source: October, EMS released the song titled “Nem tetszik a rendszer” (“I don’t like the system”) on Figure 3 – number of new fans of the EMS Facebook group during the weeks before the The firstfactor that I look at is the result of a conscious activity: protest onthe23 rd (Source:socialbakers.com) 40 on the 10 th of CEU eTD Collection had was connected to the reaction on behalf of of organizers. the behalf reaction on to the connected had was efficient in raising awareness of the group and the real life protest. threshold100 of highly reached amuch wider andwas audience video000 hits. the Clearly, for the newer version to reach the same amount of hits, and by the third day ithad crossed the aroundaday reach 20 it to 000hits,took versions thetwo of between release the 11days the allit took video in former caseof the far morethe while visible: was publicity, difference the of sharing very similar content is twice formostretentive probably people. Concerning same message, been astheaudiohad not modified stream for the secondversion,idea and the the carried versions two the essentially that is probably reason underlying The shares). (231 clip video the with version newer the than page) EMS the from directly shares (329 intensely Peoplehad shared who alreadybeen members version group the the of moreoriginal can increase innewbe observed. members wave of which minimumafter another local even larger scale. It had been released on the October 17, which can be seen on the chart as a find thesong(Source: YouTube). 14000 from used to hadbeen Facebook, timesYouTube been of thesearch engine redirected represented in the media. EMS protest inmedia.organizers publishedrepresented whichthey a document inthe EMSprotest Postmeshow more and Brunstig conflictual explainedabout collective becomes action more what for example the – well as media mainstream in the but EMS, of side the from only intention wideprotestingof onthatday back in The conflict summer. notthe got publicity their had announced who organizers, from the reaction animmediate provoked announcement a locationdemonstration 23),to (October very This close tothe protest of EMS. mass EMS sametheforthcoming for the announcedday as arally government the October The second example is a situation that emerged as an external factor, but the effect it but effect the factor, an emerged external as that isasituation The secondexample The second version of version The secondmadeincluded song,videothe amusic animpactof of that an 41 On the evening of the 6 th of CEU eTD Collection commemoration. Orbán had to make a decision: he could either go to Brussels to the summit, the orto stayBrussels to go ateither could homehe decision: a tomake maketo had Orbán a speechcommemoration. on the commemoration.18 He decided that the summit 17 the between place have taken would Summitthat Eurozone the that announced was European October 23.On VanRompuy 11,Presidentof Council Herman October the thestrengtheningto thedeclinein EMSagenda. of the popularity, therefore party’s the The sameissuecompetence. washeldFidesz this andit againsttime, definitely contribute did fault isdemonstratinglackgetting the government, thisunambiguously of the point of its to Euroreachedthe the 300Forintbarrierin the press 2009. During conference he explained that instance when previous the after shortly time),that apressconference held at opposition party main the Fidesz, of leader fraction was the (who Navracsics from Tibor a quote post in took opportunity mediabeenthe extensively. Theorganizers to mainstream the discussed eventreceivedwideand the Euro.This publicity barrier, tothe and had Forints isasymbolic seen level not 2009 -300 since January above betweenspiked a currencies exchange rate resolved by made themovementEMS more known to the public andmore appealing some. to been conflict had which through way the andapproach the civilized governmentthe of additional publicity eventandthereforethe of as well, group the inflexible with the combined The crowds. different very attract events two the that knowing place, and time same the at postponingin theevent, toavoidorder thecomplicationsin inherent massholding two events Fidesz andendin EMSdid not a fruitful The organizersagreement. of ended latter the up between hazard”. negotiation The them means a“lethal according to toeach so close other requested Fideszfind to a different venue for their commemoration, as keeping the two events th in Brussels is to be postponed to October 23, the very day of the planned the of day very the 23, October to be postponed is to in Brussels The fourth example is also an unplanned event, altering the course of the events on The third example is also connected to an external factor. On the 4 42 th of October the October of th and the CEU eTD Collection and the availability to post are the same for every user, regardless of whether one has “liked” has one whether of user,regardless for every same are the post to availability andthe administrator, and by an additional click one can reach the content posted by users. The layout variation. centralized de- new, the to structured movement traditional from scale the on namely action, collective of more thorough picture which can behelpfulunderstand in to attemptthe EMSas an instance structure of page.Examiningthe such way andthe options they beinga are used can lead to visibility and general fine-tune accessibility, the to options of hasavariety theeditor group, andgroup by posts individual members tothe same surface,the “Wall”. When setting upa connection with the postponed Eurozone summit. mentioned the had EMS before: mentionedgroup been in several themediatimes in impact. itis hadbeen Ifitthat make because additional publicity not the did, of asignificant group, within eventprobably Facebook this supporters did numberRegarding EMS the of the of demonstration.the worries Fideszon surface commemoration on-line the aboutthe now be assured eventboth time vicinityregardingstill that aboutthe andspacecould opposing the of concerned it were who isPeople turnout. overall the on safe effect positive a had probably it demonstration, toEMS attend the eventthe whole commemoration. Looking atthis act solely from the viewpoint of the success– of the multiple charismaticleaders call making of speechto one other the the of party,the hedecidedto off commenters expressedindependence of relative the their on Hungary emphasis his contradicting somewhat was which important, more from the European Union. Also, instead of delegating the role of 3.5 EMS is set up in a way so that by default visitors see solely the posts by the page by group ownerof the typically consiststhe The interface of posts of a Facebook Distinguishing content on the EMS Facebook page: user generated and centrally published postscentrally published 43 CEU eTD Collection be considered ‘normal’. I considered the possibility that the vicinity of the Christmas holidays should page the of activity the vicinity thereby period, the immediate of news inthe breaking to 22pm. The reason for choosing this similarities. and differences appearing the particular controlleddate in a centralized way.was Thirdly, I compare thethe results of the two analyses,lackbe flow can information asthe appear, explainingnot should mechanism same wherethe administrators, of relevant by posts the to turn I Secondly, 2006). (Garrett present constantly eventseffective gatekeepers or no and active are there when information overload, theriskof introduces platform on the appears that of content amount large the is that this for assuming Thereason posts. generated in public debate caseof the information user- effective wayofspreadingand promoting an not is “Wall” the currently that hypothesis general the from move I administrators. of the posts onthe data tothe Iturn and then of group, the the administrators than users other displayed and upon. Firstly,look atdata reacted thatIgathered I on posted by contentthe (theposts ones by by andtheonesposted posted EMS administrators public)the being are see. general public to the for content additional post and access to visitors for obstacles any hardly are there as as beinterpreted open, usedbyEMScan settings from public.Consequently,the of the those submittedcontent by users,haveother hardly otherchoiceany butto distinguish theirposts the membership threshold after which administrator posts would disappear in the plethora of isitAdditionally, topointgenerally out especially important after reaching pages, that most easily. rather beaccessed canstill latter in the but principle content, sourced crowd the over priority have posts official the that means consequently This not. or before page the I monitored group onan theI EMSFacebook basis, hourly 20from 7am onDecember In this part I present the data I have gathered with regard to the way the two kinds of 44 CEU eTD Collection which makes up anaverage of per hour 13 posts will present the results after introducing the findings of the first wave of analysis. duringlater May2012,tobe able compare to resultswith the findingsfrom the December. I monitored amountthe of postsduringuser generated aten day of period fivetime months havegainview, periods also I of In order to a comparative those time. considerably during changed Facebook on spent averagetime the nor user, per of page views number the nor reach, daily the neither Alexa.com, at available Hungary for statistics traffic the to according However, 30. onDecember I coded set data next the hence in case, data this the affect As it can be As it seen on can Figure 4:postssubmitted to the EMS page(excluding posts by thegroup Figure 4 , there were 192 posts during day were192 , there in the monitored posts total, administrators) 45 . The distribution can be seen on the chart: the on be seen can distribution The CEU eTD Collection people, especially amongst the younger generation, rely of in theirconsumption people, younger amongst the generation,on rely especially 2008). Thelies in filter” filter”moreis (Stelter the “social and effect what more The other reason why the ‘share’ indicator should be tospreadmessages. supporters non-official channelfor seen effectiveness this the of idea about as a relevant sign to be considered us of an give shares can amount number: average isprominent the most the indicator ‘Share’ foritis like spreadinginformation proclaimed of themselves, by group creators the the the hub asa EMSpage the If we consider havestirred. posts the activity of amount the indicate collective action space(Flanagin action collective the on impersonal to personal from movement the indicate they Also aspect. desirable a significant, is which debate public of direction general the to points it and reflections ideas,views, the exchangeof indicate asthey areespecially important available. Comments quantities - in the case of commentsthat can be examined: all posts can be liked, sharedalso and commented on by other users, and thethe content - of thesethe EMS page withoutthree having administrator rights in the group. Still,indicators there are three indicators are publicly hadamount tothelevel elevated of by content shown audience. Thespread of behaviorthis triggered aself-reinforcing through which process the likely relativelybe more itof tothe close readby top page,hencemaking content the the to inordertokeeptheir unchangedformat, ofthe dayinan several duringtimes the course content their re-posting of method the used them of some content: the posting were who users information isindeedoverload presenton page.the This musthave alsobeen noticed by the of threat the meaning that content, of this deal amount to visitors with majority of vastfor the posted everycontent minutes.is It three conclude reasonableit to that would be problematic therewas whilenew least therewere4posts, hours busiest during hours popular during the There is determine nofeasible method to get views theof number theseposts through et al . 2006). Looking at these data for a series of posts can 46 Figure 4 . CEU eTD Collection potential potential audience. be makingof noticedlikely to page, top moreit towards the the further bythe pushes it comments) and shares likes, of amount (large attention of level high but order, chronological reputation algorithms briefly in 3.3, discussed contentthe isChapter strictly not listedin a of Facebook’s for aresult people: as is the more relevant that content the for pre-selecting most prominent examples for this process. Thirdly, ‘Likes’ indicate support, and are also tools the of one is Facebook and nature, in changes distribution information of system the work, editorial filter” of “professional traditional the of place the takes partly filter” As the“social by by but medianot membersassembled outlets, traditional the audienceother (2011). the of informationnews including andissues. civic about knowledge The audienceisnowbeing Table 1 – Like, share, and comment frequencies of contents shared by the public Sum Maximum Minimum Median Mean 193,00 9,00 0 0 1,0782 Likes (N=179) 47 15,00 2,00 0 0 ,0838 Shares 346,00 22,00 0 0 1,9330 Comments CEU eTD Collection directly. shows the same frequencies for 116posts the had that been by posted EMS administrators of November and December from course the atalltheposts I looked rarer, aresignificantly As posts these administrators. 2011, to get a sufficientactivity of EMS, Ihave gathered similar data about the posts that had been posted by the EMS amount of data for analysis. distributing information. that this kind of communication of information and ideas have significant drawbacks in general conclusion to the points audience postingandthe theone between and communication ‘likes’, shares lackof the individual,viewed any by not are that posts the indicate not does thatthe did majority attract indicates any Although of not feedback posts whatsoever. this published from 10pm 8am to on December 302011.The median value of in0 all casesthree Table 2 - To put it into a comparative perspective and to get a more thorough look of more of look itinto thorough a comparativeget a online the put and perspective To to Table 1 Sum Maximum Minimum Median Mean Like, share, and comment frequencies of contents shared by EMS (N=116) shows the like, comment and share frequencies on posts that had been had that posts on frequencies share and comment like, the shows 36200,00 1727,00 53 226,5 311,8 Likes 6659,00 208,00 3 48 57,4 Comments 48 10065,00 426,00 1 63 86,8 Shares Table 2 CEU eTD Collection comments onposts that arepublished by and by EMS administrators, those public.the of effort. amount smallest needsthe that gesture which is the post, the to connected even ‘like’ not a single is casesthere of half the than the huge quantity of posts limita firstglance, it as small seems at isas not intotal posts peoples toother activity connected the rise of any substantial interactions andposts only in 5percentof casesthe are more there than 10. This means thatalthough the and debates. In moreon the other hand revealslook A closer posts. caseof ashighinthe public are times three of debate, publicindicators that in 80 percent of thesupposed are the which ofdaily amounts comments, the In fact, all.great after that not cases there are less than amongvisitors regarding in activity, still, sum daily the 3 total shows that the differences are comments on conclusions that I find surprising and of which both needs further explanation. two leads to This respectively. and 15 346 numbers the are193, posts, case the public of 603likes,that 110commentsbeing andmade In the EMSposts. are 167shares day every to been during of posted the course one single at day.If look it thewe dailyaverage, turns out because while the EMS postssurprising notonly because of higherthe visibility butmoreof importantly EMSposts, the had been collected from 2 months, while the public ones had Secondly, there are striking differences in the proportions of shares, likes and ofshares, inthe proportions differences arestriking Secondly, there Firstly,itis visible individual although that byEMS posts are vastlymore popular arenot comments shares and of likes, number the between difference The striking 49 CEU eTD Collection further analysis is needed to determine the exact nature of the differences. Most importantly, todetermine analysisisneeded of further exact nature Most the differences. the and forms, authoring two the for picture different a cardinally habits sketch and reacting limitations.attractmuch Theposting with only but donot debate, attention publicand posts the idea strengthening that kinds the of posts, between two the differences the highlighted analysis the Still, draw conclusions. far-fetched legitimate beto not itwould comments, posts are almost always limited to a single comment to a given post. nonexistent. Moreover, whileisof gestures the two almost thirds makeupalmost comments sharing picture: as I have explainedwhile above,the smallestthe thirds of cast gestures the postscomments are‘likes’, toEMS andsharing a steady represents 19 percent in proportionthe case Two to. reacted been had content of type each differently how visible is clearly above. It of the public is that of commenting. Public posts show a very different Figure 5 – Proportions of reaction types in the case of EMS and public posts. As this part of my analysis is not dealing with the content of either the posts or the Figure 5 shows agraphic illustration phenomenonthe of by data represented the 50 CEU eTD Collection done more efficiently in anonline andcallfor environment, an action online has nothat direct be butcan offline, happens normally that online for action call foraction, between offline call activism. offline or online for amongEMS administrators, which 264instancesI considered were wheretheauthors calling March During course of the 15months,these 2012. a total had madeof 1094 posts been by from January by endof the posted beginningposts the EMSadministrators 2011to the of is all content of Thetotal range viahyperlinks. connected Facebook, outside contain content sources. I chose to consider these contents parts of the post as well,so the sampling units may might from from Facebook Posts group. containor content embeddedmedia other within the category of category the from acts toinvoke attempts be should seen as instances These category activities. of broader a into page) EMS the ‘liking’ of act is the (which slacktivism of kind basic most the convert administrators. This EMSgroup by be “calls”)onesposted should inthe the posts anactivity group these (I call way, I attempt to get the members of the engaging at aimed are specifically that posts of analysis for the cases a more thorough picture on the methods used to verify isfar. neededto research discoveredso quantitative tendencies the qualitative data regarding the content of the posts and comments has to be used and additional awareness/advocacy of of categories the thecharacteristics carry often units coded the grasp, are hardto 3.6 My categorization is based on the scheme suggested by based My categorization isVegh (2003):Idistinguished on schemethe suggested My individual sampling units appearing are“wall”posts onthe of Facebook the The findings from the analysis so far assured me that the adequate way selecting far adequateway of the methat assured from so The findings analysis the Content analysis – the “calls for activism” organization/mobilization and action/reaction as well (Vegh 2003). . Because the boundaries between the categories between boundaries the . Because 51 CEU eTD Collection short duration. Investigating the question revealed that the reason on behalf of duration.organizers the reason onbehalf of short the revealedthat question the Investigating in activity purposeof of the for doingmedia entertaining an meet place unusual a public or insteadflashmobs: where of were toas referred an by people agroup activity mobilized social of protest fit that definition the for events calls example choice. For a straightforward was not bejustified. theviolation can therefore requiring categories, include exclusive mutually analysisprocedures doesnot statistical categories violatesanalysis therules of quantitative content (WeareandLin2000),this making Although is action. such actof a partof calls foroffline the category the inherently observing the extent to whichthecalls theextentobserving go helps category separate in a calls the Putting activism. for calls the all of majority vast the realizationthe for EMScalls thecoding thatthe offlineduring process protesting represent was protest offline for calls behind separating Thirdly, the reason the to organize the protests. support amorefinancial wayof effective gathering or Africa, theChildren of case Saving of EMS groupismore similar the example to slacktivism observed(2011) in of byMorozov the to the actual amount inrelation of calls the observation close ofthe financially: members of group the on the reliance money that was gathered grasp the to for category donations calls for made separate Secondly, the I group. Facebook indicates whether inthe tenissuesperiod, of weredistributed until this the course June 312011.During the case of joining on theMay 3, the International World Press page theEMSFacebook on was announced lived that initiative categoryisashort The latter Freedom Day, and lasted for less than society. civil the concerning news pieces of aset were summarizing two that ‘Notes’ Facebook of months, calls and acategory for donations, protests, for offline calls instances: particular other, three offline Additionally, categories counterpart. added threeseparate toquantify I of amountthe In the process of coding, I encountered several occasions where applying acategory applying where several occasions I encountered of coding, process In the beyond 52 this primary ingoal, keeping mind that the CEU eTD Collection assessment of of each category. assessment overall the for which Iusedasaguideline for, itactivity exactcalls summary of what dominant type among the ones apparent,most the choosing of method subjective somewhat the casesIused those In categories. and coded accordingly. To each post I alsoThe most common ones werewrote cases where a single post contained callsa for actions of different resolve. harder to issueswere other Somename. from the apart viewpoint other every from any law. In these cases, Iused the code for offline protest, as these events classify for protests lawit for banning so lets the flashmobs, gatherorganizers amassinfringing of people without no is legislativein There zone. grey a are flashmobs announced inadvance, which werenot callto such flashmobsevents was Hungarian although lawthat allow doesnot for protests Figure 6:Calls for activism on theEMSFacebook pagebetweenJanuary 2011and March 2012–Distribution bycategories (N=264) 53 CEU eTD Collection example,it highly is by aremany thatthere people possible became who disappointed EMS, canbe of for hadfaded. For members Multiple factors this the phenomenon. accounted are still partly bythedonations.initial Thissuggeststhat someuncovered enthusiasm of the March15 mass protest 2012 recent, most for the expenses hand,the other the On donations. by covered the already expenseswere sendingmoney,the stop as all asked people to organizers 17 the March on event, the days after two just and protest, the weeksbefore started for donations demonstration successin thecalls was obvious: 2011March the 15 of the case The Hungarian NGOs. support other to members wereasking organizers the when instances five were there for donation Among26 calls EMS. the connectedto and events protests other the toorganizing connected were all that their expenses details about organizers posted next part of this section, Iwill discuss the qualitative results of the content analysis. category six. thesmallestamong the In represents group newsletters project of Facebook but it is also not for donations, directly wereasking organizers the instances when although were26 there that the dominantchart the on visible is also It events. protest excluding participation, for offline calls the than method of trying posts minority the largerof latter categories makeupa sum two butthe these of categories, to engage the participation not- whether or they have adirectoffline- represent less counterpart populous members. Theactivity short-lived that is notleave areurgingadministrators in members the andget engaged an onlinethe to environment, merely a digital forrepresentation offline action, is call category populous most second the consideration that of If into we take protests. offline offlineit can be activities.concluded that The incalls more forthan online two thirds of the cases, the EMS The calls for donations were generally guided by the principle of the by of forThe calls principle weregenerally the guided transparency: donations As Figure 6 shows, almost half of the calls were calling the group members to join 54 CEU eTD Collection appropriate volunteer was found very fast in the majority of cases. The bulk of for callsin Thebulkof the fastcases. of majority volunteervery wasfound the appropriate mostly successful: orsomeone language)reliable were translator knowssign who an examplea for more tasks(for specific needed were people The instances where protests. the example the main to happens reporting ifanything organizers potentially dangerous during calls for volunteers for the protests to do minor tasks to ensure that the events run swiftly, in includedpaving wayfrom category potential activism.posts this The slacktivism the to for understand after the why issue.hardinitiative to stopped tenth the itis findings, light these of the (mean=72).In for action calls theaverage (mean=102) than more comments significantly attracted they average(mean=274), on for action callsthe as ‘likes’ of amount same the exactly received newsletters the although larger: is also ‘likes’ and comments of in terms received newsletters the feedback of amount the Furthermore, a vastamount chapter. Ihave leadinginthat of previous posts post, the to described regarding on information partof group overload the the pagewherethe could the everyone of flaw the in overcoming potential hada great initiative The for action. andcalls pieces news articles, additional the with issues the complemented editors the and viaemail, newsletter the from missing was that sendinformation peopleidea could wasthat insociety The Hungary. is civil happening in what the about information collected authors the category weeks, ineach breaking news, civil voices, offline, online, videos/movies, online, voices,offline, breaking news, civil were categories links. The of set a containing of them each categories, six different contained andact, thereby nolongerfelt they engagement. urgeforthe further by first charity their becamesatisfied once people whodonated byMorozov: suggested one the is mechanism possible Another activity. their of results tangible no were there that seeing The calls for offline participation were aimed at facilitating deeperengagement, at aimed forThe calls were participation offline Turning EMSinitiativethe to publishing of Ifound anewsletter, each issue that 55 and articles. For eight consecutive eight For CEU eTD Collection group allowedgroup for reachingtoawider out audience. pictures went viral, carrying the address of EMS with them. This kind of advertisement for the Some project. wasmoved by the participants of a lotfantasy of the as apparently successful, highly competition was satirical hand. The underOrbán’s various objects putting picture, the OrbánMinister is Viktor his shown Thewere with hand out. competitors urged edit held to was launchedin also September 2011, where peoplemodify could onwhich a picture Prime similar competition Another, thepictures. andby vote group, ‘liking’ in Facebook posted the album viewmiddle.on pictures an Everyone the put the desiredcould image inthe had to volunteers just the groupavailable, Facebook the of andtheaddress demonstration the about opposing the political power’ take partinthedemonstration and him/herself, citizen tomakehis/hervoiceheard,show video, which a picture orashort could supporters post identity. collective a build to helping in useful is potentially it but collectivistic, to individualistic call. This kind of action not only makes the act of sharing information change from wasincluded inA link banners could the pictures with and protest the of downloadable reach. all they online surfaces the of period to time duringa given 2011 protest about14 January the postinformation media wereaskedto various userssites of and pictures was social organized: withoutcontribute raising amount the of efforts needed only slightly,flashmob” a“sharing makemembers to an attempt audience toabroader In online. protests the about information by EMS and other actors of the civil society. andinvites workshops, organized offline various events, conferences included participation to In September 2011, EMS launchedIn September the 2011, spread members oftenasked to broaden EMS, organizers reachof the In orderto . The organizers made an empty containing madean the details empty template . The organizers 56 volunteer propagandist competition ‘urges every dissatisfied Hungarian everydissatisfied ‘urges , where CEU eTD Collection Vegh: to according activism Internet areaof remaining the EMSused find where instances not clear Icould posts. competing inthemassesof disappears content highis thatthe risk a case, there former in the especially time, same the At administrators. EMS the of that on commenting by individuals content, opinionsforprovidesor share asurface own posting their theirto EMS directly list, mailinga on content distributed centrally of pure, case a inthe unlike but distribution isnetwork used for effectively organization mobilizationand purposes as well, became ahub forinformation. and gathering alternativedistributing newsand This of kind through whichactivity falls into the people couldof the Internet use of EMS. In effortlesslythe classification of Vegh (2003), the bulk of the EMS online express their dissatisfaction 2003). (Costanza-Choc part contention of repertoire the important electronic of with the media law by EMS. The EMS Facebook group itself can be seen as an act of as an beact itself can seen group The EMSFacebook by EMS. bombing. email as qualify might it than well, go really to happens politician a certain to emails and theonline worldsas ifwell. one Still, theof campaignsdirected atsending uniform from toolkitthe of EMS. The group consciously restrains itself from inviolence, offlinethe seen as a valuable addition tobe hardly casecan latter Clearly, the by EMSgroup. the were posted forthat activism civilcalls society, but it fits the category of In the light of isitprovideIn so far, described lightof the findings to the possible anoverall evaluation 3.7 action/reaction. An overall evaluationof the Internetuse of EMS From Costanza-Chocks (2003) classification, the whole range of whole the isbeing rangeof (2003)classification, tactics From Costanza-Chocks used This, second part of the section intended to be a snapshot on the range of different awareness/advocacy These violent instances of Internet activism are consciously omitted areconsciously activism Internet instances of violent These category. What started up as a slacktivist act upasaslacktivist started What category. 57 cultural prodiction representation , as it as , , an CEU eTD Collection examples for examples EMS, and the video clip, or the results of the be made for EMS. Firstly, EMS propagates more collectivistic forms of action, even even action, though more of forms collectivistic Firstly, propagates made EMS be forEMS. andInternet-based of types supported action. destruction of property Consequently,orfind I that aparthacktivism), from activities that represent the highestlevel of threshold (i.e. the EMS mentioned anddonations. some petitions above so are the group online to but extent based activities, covers the whole Internet are typically content and matrix pages ‘liking’ of concept whole the example For present. of Internet- facilitating function hasmostly a theInternet EMSprotests of in axis, organization the other the Regarding be mightingovernment asabehavior perceived risky rather a repressive environment. networksocial site, for publicly agroup is expressing that support the openly the opposing because of the potentially notrequire find lotdangerous, inparticipants whichdoes of a activities engaging effort inherent risks. Particularly,isAtmatrix aboutwhich samedata degree the the Figure 1). nothe to time,(see there if one uses his or lowerlevel thereby commitment, of thein bulkputting of EMSactivity the of the lower part her real name on a providesmostlyengagedget group revealsthe inactivities that a that require opportunities to for Internet usethe administrators EMS the that indicates for distribution wereselected pieces news the from which sources of diversity the Similarly, of category The limitations. with but successfully, donations for collecting representation uses its online anongoing EMS. presence for establishes Regarding Postmes and Brunsting’s classification criteria (2002), two conclusionscriteria can (2002),two RegardingBrunsting’s classification Postmes and classification the and EMSaccordingAelst(2009) of the Evaluating Van Laer Van to lobbying cultural production. , but in the case of other activities, a broader way of Internet use is includes the online petitions that are also used as a tool includes also the are petitionsby online that usedasatool EMS. I elaborated on the issue the of on Ielaborated Information distribution 58 volunteer volunteer propagandist competition research fund-raising purposes extensively.purposes is in the main profile of profile main the isin , arguing that EMS are good CEU eTD Collection costly costly involvements include donations via PayPal,participatingor by uploading acaricature. forprecondition accessingany and or theof content) the individualposts sharingMore them. options most The aresimilarly basic includeisdiversified. gestures ‘liking’ page(itthe nota purpose of the participating, For articles. more critical is extensive, avariety of stream, so news in the embedded are system the with problems the about view personal their explaining briefly celebrities to video music from the ranging content cryptic More click. another canbe all system by the be movement to inthe read, according which can of depth reviewed linksare the official provided there to blog, through objectedwhich attributes 12most the of are offered. Aquick overview of agenda the can bereadby clicking on ‘Info’the page. There member can act various If ways. individualthe islookinginformation, for arange of options for anew example, In caseof EMS the potential participant. suit the doesnot option presented because the solely isavoided participation chanceless that is offered, there participation are levels of for different opportunities and available arevarious contents on samethe surface depending hisinterest,content, time involvement. If orher intended on and available of depth From can thespecific material participanta range the several choose of advantages. provided, classification of Van Laer and Van Aelst proves to be more useful. the cases, such in that conclusion the to points which classification, Brunsting’s and Postmes in represented not are risks of engagement the concerning limitations of side scale.The the persuasive mostly the on place aretaking EMSactivities the very similar: are conclusions the persuasive to confrontational mostly mirrors the threshold axis of Van Laer andranges from that scale second The Van events. other attending of the one or Aelst, protests real-life the so is so and action, collectivistic as categorized both are flashmobs’ ‘sharing the and petitions, done solitarily. beforsomewhatparadoxically online can onlineactions example the Still, the Looking groupat theEMSFacebook as a flexible information revealsenvironment its 59 CEU eTD Collection engaged in a rapid repertoire switch, diversifying operations and transforming itself into a intoitself transforming operations and switch,diversifying engaged inarapidrepertoire success,MoveOn thisinitial After 1998). (Brown representatives to of copies petition the hard volunteers, offline the who online the world,took thousandsaction to distributing of mobilize amonth, within to andmanaged of million a aquarter over signatures collected successfully issuesThe petition more“move (Chadwick pressingpolicy 2007). on” to pass Congress impeachment a simplecensuremotion to hearings,through than rather go and US requesting petition online an contained that awebsite initially was MoveOn MoveOn. participant. Thereby, worksasacombination EMS down of andtop bottom up structures. as fora surface sharing including information for calls variousactivities by related any an internal hierarchy, and statements publishing organizingat the eventsbut same timeacting has which an intoorganization EMSturned so, hub.doing By it acentral became connected, loosely are that many causes the among of it one of being only Instead different. somewhat information using the same ICTs,lessening risk the ofmisinformation. verifyis that it similarly easy to out At samethe (Ayres Elin(2003) points time 1999). carry to isa protest intended that message the via for example distorting – movement the transforming unintentionally of threat the carries which line, on is circulated that movement Thisininformation the quality regarding canresultdeteriorated circulated. the of an overall is being that information checkingthe of validity the or properly, articulating enough on concentrate not might individuals effort, of lot a in putting without information diffuse effectively Becauseof ability the to in process. involved same the arealso risks certain hand, by numerousincluding scholarsobserved and (1994).Onthe other Bimber (2000) Myers The history of The history by its useoftechnology organizersEMS andthe of of resemble story the as organization, a singlepurpose out is started In process caseof the the EMS, which hadbeen by communication achieved mobilization rapid efficiency of The elevated 60 CEU eTD Collection ‘availability’ pageisthe makes rarely distinction desiredspread.The causing the between Hargittai (2000) and ‘reachability’on content simply the posting mechanism of 100 most the direct members group, 000 the of can theirideaspost on page,the thereby having potentialthe ability beto seen by over the of content isAlthough tosomeinformation. group everyone centralized truly degree. regard,the this In on the Internetalternative hubof adistribution is as action of collective asafacilitator canwork group appliesEMS, the next instep isthis somewhat andStill, in theory’ (Verhulst ofVan Laer 2008). ‘stepping-stone caseof participation the context.unclear. The most prominent users, butwhich canbe in afirststep engagingwith activities Theseof EMS, asdescribedinthe ways in which the entertainingFacebook is that content of kind the and for suited well is and informative distributed, be efficiently can EMS about at the same time, not requiring a lot of effort on behalfsite. petition of the in by reality, it day day becomes less andless –like accurate calling MoveOn online an onlineAlthough as group”, site. newsmediarefer EMS Hungarian the to ”EMSthe Facebook significantly,as it could beseenfrom contentgroupof the analysis the posted its the on agendathe broadened from EMS also Apart of changing channel.the and repertoire, Youtube The groupsoon of EMSFacebook protests. was with supplemented interlinked EMSblog, the Similarly, the group managed to take its cause from the Internet to the streets, organizing a set law in Hungary. newmedia the with issue– a single express discontent to people a site for an online became petition, ahybrid movementmobilization (Chadwick 2007). host to set up website offas purpose What asingle started electoral politics. in U.S. engaged transnational movement, anarrowlyanti-war U.S.domesticfocused and lobby group, The Facebook groupThe itselfFacebook is indeed a valuable medium through which information The case of EMS is in many ways similar to the story of MoveOn. Italso started off as 61 CEU eTD Collection is present, seeking for attention. seeking is present, content of array vast a where environment in every inherent are hand other the on limitations 62 CEU eTD Collection facilitator of collective action and as a distribution hub for information. hubfor asadistribution and of action collective facilitator as a analysis,EMS method content Igrasped of pageand using the from EMSFacebook the data freedom. Collecting press of infringement perceived the to areaction EMS emerged as itsfor activity by briefly introducing around the debate Hungarianthe media law, and the way action. of forms collective aspect of diverse adifferent eachhighlighting of action, repertoires activism online for classifications four different Ipresented action, for collective repertoire the to Internet the of contribution the contextualize and specify To environment. online the to and low-risk activities as useless forms low-cost discardingboth argued against slacktivism.as actsof I arecategorized which actions of collective action, and the limitation groundon atthe look a critical taking inthe literature, definitions different and evaluating of slacktivism andmobilize public support to resources attention. in facilitating forms of collective action, highlightingthe forpotential civic with little groups have sites of kinds these that disadvantages and advantages the on I elaborated sites, network fully applicable in contemporary the Narrowingenvironment. downmy focus on social be not might conclusions theoretical and findings empirical both of validity the that mind in myprovideviewpoints, abalanced overview aim was to complex this of relationship, keeping skeptical the and optimistic more the both to attention paying By action. collective Conclusion In the third partofmy introducedthesis, my I case study of EMS, providing context slacktivism,of presenting conceptintroduced recently emerged the I that, Related to and Internet between the relationship complex grasp the to Iattempted In mythesis, 63 CEU eTD Collection managed to mobilize a substantial amount of mobilize managed asubstantial were notcivically of who to amount people engagedbefore. either. The real success of EMS would be apparentif survey data could confirm that the group thesis, mobilization versus did reinforcement not the test Inmy I study, case consequences? are the andwhat bubble”inaction, “filter of the evidence media? social Is there by impacted movements of andactivist outcomes process arethe ways what activism? In investigated: by be how areattitudes towardsmovements impacted further media social should andmovements sites networking between the relation social In amore general aspect, change. will EMS of repertoire action the is direction what to yes if and whether reveal would in time a distance from EMS of an analysis study, case the Regarding mobilization. and sites network social between on connection the casestudy, research andmore the of investigation engagement as a myamountof findings thenegative people.of Therefore, assessment civic challenge online successfully EMSgroup the managedinform,involve, toandmobilize connect, agrowing further engagement, for options awidevariety of online.broadening activity the providing By as well as world offline the to presence online the transferring effectively action, collective potential networksitessocial in mobilizing of rapidly massesof people for participating in The proposed directions for further research can be split into two categories: further categories: beinto two can splitfurther research for directions The proposed Regarding my research questions,my through case study I revealed the strong slacktivist activity, carrying little societal benefit. societal little carrying activity, 64 CEU eTD Collection http://archive.salon.com/21st/log/1998/10/27log.html Salon.Brown, moves J.(1998).MoveOn from Retrieved April 28, 2012, offline. 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