Presentation as part of mini-conferences on Digital Sociology and Social Change through Social Media at 2016 ESS meeting

1. NEW MEDIA MOBILIZATION
Theorizing social change in a digital age
Julie B. Wiest, Ph.D., West Chester University of Pennsylvania
jwiest@wcupa.edu | @jbwiest | juliebwiest.com

2. Introduction
• Much research focuses on increases in inequalities
because of new media technologies
• “Digital divide”
• “Spiral of silence” on social media
• Can new media technologies contribute to
reducing inequalities?

3. Literature: Cyberactivism
• Initiate consumer boycotts & public protests
• Organize & implement social movements
• Mobilize marginalized group members
(e.g., Della Porta & Mosca, 2005; Juris, 2008; Kahn & Kellner, 2005;
Langman, 2005; Lievrouw, 2011; O’Lear,1999; Wasserman, 2007)
Literature: Cyberactivism

4. • Internet & cell phone use increasing
• Cell phone ownership increasing
Literature: Resource access

9. Data and Methods
1. Wiest, Julie B. and Nahed Eltantawy. 2015. “Mediatization
in the Arab World: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of New
Media Use.” Online Journal of Communication and Media
Technologies 5(2): 120-142.
2. Wiest, Julie B. and Nahed Eltantawy. 2012. “Social Media
Use among UAE College Students One Year after the Arab
Spring.” Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research 5(3):
209-226.
3. Eltantawy, Nahed and Julie B. Wiest. 2011. “Social Media
in the Egyptian Revolution: Reconsidering Resource
Mobilization Theory.” International Journal of
Communication 5:1207-1224.

10. Advantages of NMT
1. Unprecedented speed and interactivity
Safety tips
• protest at nighttime
•spray-paint armored vehicles
with black to cover windshield
• wash face with Coca-Cola to
reduce impact of tear gas
- ElBaradei Facebook page

11. 2. Promote sense of community/collective identity
April 6 Movement
ElBaradei for Presidency
We are all Khaled Said
January 25: the day of revolution over torture,
poverty, corruption & unemployment
Advantages of NMT

12. 3. Establish connection with other movements
If you can take pictures, take pictures.. if you can use
Twitter, send tweets.. if you can blog, blog from the
street. There are people demonstrating for our cause
in Tunisia and Jordan, and I just found out that there
are people demonstrating in Paris too. All of these
people have faith in us.
- Egyptian activist and blogger Nawara Negm
Advantages of NMT

13. 4. Publicize the cause to global community
URGENT: REQUEST to ALL EUROPE & US
tweeps on #Jan25 PLEASE ASK YOUR MEDIA TO
COVER #EGYPT NOW
- Twitter user @weddady
Tahrir is chaotic now. Fire everywhere. People are
gathered there and extreme noise that I can’t tell what
[it] is at the moment #Jan25
- Twitter user @DannyRamadan
Advantages of NMT

14. @mfatta7 Tear gas
@mfatta7 I’m suffocating
@mfatta7 We r trapped inside a building
@mfatta7 Armored vehicles outside
@mfatta7 Help we r suffocating
@mfatta7 I will be arrested
@mfatta7 Help !!!
@mfatta7 Arrested
@mfatta7 Ikve [I’ve] been beaten a lot
- Egyptian video journalist Mohamed Abdelfattah
Advantages of NMT

15. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Online activities
Social networking
sites
Info on health, dieting,
or fitness
Seeking news or
political info
Info on tough health
topic
Sharing original
creation
Using Twitter
Remixing online
content
Shopping
Working on own
journal or blog
Discussing taboo
topics
Visiting virtual world

16. • Need framework for understanding role of new
media technologies in activism
• Studies of movements in U.S. & world
Next Steps

17. Next Steps

18. Next Steps

19. Next Steps

20. Next Steps