Social Media, Social Movements: Global Activism in the Digital Age

From the Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter, from Occupy to extremist and fascist groups, activists use digital media to coordinate, share information, document actions, and send messages of support, solidarity, opposition, and resistance. At the same time, activists are often suspicious of how digital technology is used by authorities and government bodies for surveillance, censorship, and profiling. Social Media, Social Movements offers a detailed investigation of this complicated and often messy relationship, examining how activists employ digital tools, how they resist and change them, and how social movements perceive digital media's benefits and drawbacks.

Drawing on fieldwork carried out at protest sites in the USA, Australia, Greece, and Tunisia, observations from demonstrations, interviews with activists, and analysis of digital material produced by social movements, Social Media, Social Movements brings together perspectives from those in the movement and on the ground (including those who might actively avoid using digital media) and those involved in and representing the movements online. Building on this innovative combined methodology, researcher-activists Sky Croeser and Tim Highfield reflect critically on their own roles as researchers, exploring research relationships to activist practices, social media platforms, and the politics and privilege of academia.