PARTICIPATION ENVIRONMENTS, COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES, AND ONLINE POLITICAL BEHAVIOR: THE ROLE OF MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES FOR SOCIAL PROTEST CAMPAIGNS
GEORGE LĂZĂROIUABSTRACT. Research evidence suggests that social media platforms further the transfer of messages that is critical to the harmonization of protest activities. Using data from AP-NORC Center and Pew Research Center, I performed analyses and made estimates regarding the percentage of teens who have ever volunteered for a cause they cared about, raised money for a cause they cared about, worked with others to solve a problem affecting their school, city, or neighborhood/expressed their political beliefs online, signed a paper or online petition, and/or taken part in a peaceful protest, march, or demonstration; the percentage of social media users who say they have publicly expressed support for online campaigns, contacted elected officials, contributed money to campaign, attended local government meetings, attended political rallies or events, and worked or volunteered for campaigns in the past year/five years; the percentage of social media users who say they like seeing/are worn out by/do not feel strongly political posts and discussions; the percentage of social media users who say they discuss politics and government with others nearly every day/few times a week/few times a month/less often; and the percentage of social media users from emerging and developing countries who have voted in an election, attended a campaign event, participated in organized protests, been a member of a political organization, contacted a government official, phoned a radio/TV show, participated in labor strikes, signed a petition, posted political comments online, and/or posted links to political articles. The empirical analysis given in this article shows that social media can be employed by totalitarian governments as a component of an approach of regime resilience.
Keywords: social protest campaign; media technology; online political behavior
How to cite: Lăzăroiu, George (2018). “Participation Environments, Collective Identities, and Online Political Behavior: The Role of Media Technologies for Social Protest Campaigns,” Geopolitics, History, and International Relations 10(2): 58–63.
Received 22 March 2018 • Received in revised form 4 June 2018
Accepted 7 June 2018 • Available online 12 July 2018
doi:10.22381/GHIR10220187