Social Media Appropriation for Activism Case Study

Introduction

The number of people who use social media is increasing every day, creating more opportunities for entrepreneurs, marketers, social activists, journalists, and environmentalists among others to reach a wide audience and share their views, products, or ideas. The new practice of socializing via social media allows for building new types of relationships between people, and this phenomenon is actively used by activists to make their ideas attractive to the public and share them with the help of social networks (Bhui & Ibrahim 2013; Harlow & Guo 2014). There are certain limitations and possibilities associated with appropriating social media for activism, and the purpose of this case study is to analyze these limitations and possibilities concerning the Vinegar Protests in Brazil that took place in June 2013 (Lapa & Cardoso 2016). It is important to examine how the theory explains the use of social media for activism and how it was used to promote the Vinegar movement in Brazil. Therefore, in this case, study, the issue of appropriating social media for activism will be discussed concerning the relevant literature, and the Brazilian protests will be analyzed.

Social Media Appropriated for Activism: Theoretical Discussion

Today, the topic of social media appropriation is actively debated by researchers because more cases of using social networks for mobilization of the public are appearing each year. This development identifies social media appropriation as an important phenomenon and a concept that needs to be discussed in detail (Hemmi & Crowther 2013). In addition to defining the associated terms and discussing relevant issues, it is also necessary to critically evaluate the literature and theories that explain the use of alternative media for social mobilization.

Definitions of Terms

Social media can be defined as all technologies, online platforms, and social network sites that are used for sharing ideas, opinions, personal information, photographs, videos, audio recordings, texts, and experiences with the help of messages, communities, and blogging (Lapa & Cardoso 2016; Murthy 2018). From this point of view, social media include such platforms and websites as Facebook and MySpace that are used as social networks, YouTube for sharing videos, Twitter for micro-blogging, Wikipedia for sharing content, or Instagram for sharing photographs and other visual materials among other types. According to Russell and Echchaibi (2009), all these platforms provide people with opportunities to find friends, join communities, and share certain visions or opinions. As a result, social media provide significant tools for exchanging different types of ideas, slogans, and calls to action.

To understand how people can use social media for activism, it is also necessary to focus on the concept of collective or community action. Following Harlow and Guo (2014), collective action is associated with the combined efforts of all representatives of a certain community. In referring to social media, the idea of community becomes broader, as it unites all people in the webspace who belong to a certain online community or who support certain ideas and proclaim specific principles and rules. This process leads to community empowerment, which in turn can lead to community action (Earl & Kimport 2009; Harlow & Guo 2014). In the context of this paper, the focus is on social activism and the organization of protests as a type of collective action.

The conceptual framework on which the issue of appropriating social media by activists is based is rather complex, and it is also necessary to refer to the definition of social media appropriation in this context. Social media appropriation for activism is a process of using different types of social networks and other media for uniting people to realize a certain initiative or an idea through taking some active steps and demonstrating collective action (Lapa & Cardoso 2016; Treré & Magallanes-Blanco 2015). The public’s interest in these activities can be explained concerning certain theories that need to be further discussed.

Theoretical Framework

The spread and popularity of social network sites and other similar platforms have promoted the development of networked communication and specific types of virtual relationships between people. From the perspective of communication theory, people have changed tools for sharing their ideas, but key principles based on the necessity of delivering the message and receiving information or support remain unchanged (Russell & Echchaibi 2009). By using modern technologies for transmitting messages, individuals create psychological connections and they can provoke certain types of behaviors, as happens in the case of using social media to call for action. However, to guarantee that the message that was spread with the help of social networking sites and other social media can help to achieve a certain goal, it is important to ensure that the message is appropriate for the selected audience or community, that it is significant for this group of people, and that it is decoded according to the set purpose (Lapa & Cardoso 2016). However, the problem is that a traditional approach to communication theory is not able to explain why social media can be successfully used for activism and causing certain actions.

From this point of view, a theory based on explaining relationships can be viewed as more efficient. Social networks contribute to creating ties between people from different parts of the world, and this social instrument is effective for building the idea of belonging to one community and for forming a collective identity. If strong ties are developed between members of one community based on shared visions, opinions, interests, and needs, it is possible to influence these people’s perceptions and behaviors via affecting their emotions (Cardoso, Lapa & Di Fatima 2016; Earl & Kimport 2009). Moreover, researchers also state that social media and social networks are examples of weak ties that have an impact on their audience because of sharing information and providing resources for influencing a given situation (Brym et al. 2014; Lapa & Cardoso 2016). Interconnections and frequent interactions with the help of social media provide opportunities for turning weak ties into strong ones, and the development of social movements is possible at this stage. In this context, the motivation of the affected persons becomes concentrated on the collective identity and group needs.

Social Media and Activism

About the theory of strong versus weak ties, it can be stated that social media appropriation allows for building relationships and connections between individuals who share the same ideas and have the resources needed for action. Brouwer and Bartels (2014) have developed a convincing argument that the use of social media for activism is popular and efficient because people receive opportunities to demonstrate their belonging to a community, and they can also show their autonomy, power, and individual choice while deciding to join an activist group or not. It is important for people to feel like part of a community and also to feel like a person who takes responsibility for one’s actions and can contribute to changing the situation for the better. Brym et al. (2014) and Harlow and Guo (2014) have noted that, when activists in social communities work successfully and sound persuasive, interactions between community members and people interested in resolving a problem become active, and weak ties develop into strong ties. As a result, social media, including Facebook and Twitter, work as platforms for spreading ideas and slogans and uniting people to oppose a rule, for example, or demonstrate an action.

In this context, activism is a complex of activities oriented towards challenging the existing order and promoting different types of change. To contribute to creating social movements, activists use online interactions to reach as many people as possible. According to Hemmi and Crowther (2013), this approach is time and cost-efficient as it requires minimal resources. The researchers provide rational arguments to support their ideas based on reviewing the literature on this topic. Juris (2005) has also emphasized the idea that the use of digital tools provides social or political activists with more opportunities to attract people who support specific opinions. As a result, a message and an article published on a blog or Facebook become tools for collective action because they can attract more and more people each day. Researchers also identify other possibilities for using social media for activism.

Although they have examined social media appropriation in widely different countries and contexts, many researchers have reached similar conclusions in their studies that social media play a significant role in developing social movements (Brouwer & Bartels 2014; Brym et al. 2014; Earl & Kimport 2009; Kahn & Kellner 2004). They referred to the examples and case studies of the Arab Spring and similar movements because these events were directly associated with the use of social networks and other online resources. Therefore, the following categories have been identified by scholars: the potential impact on a wide audience, the development of strong ties using minimum resources, a quick spread of ideas and opinions, and a rapid spread of calls to action.

However, researchers have also identified the limitations of social media appropriation for activism. In contrast to other experts in the field, Lapa and Cardoso (2016) have noted that the explanation of the success of protest movements concerning using social media is typical of an optimistic scenario, but evidence shows that social media are not always effective. First, it is problematic to attract and influence people who do not demonstrate an interest in a certain event, and as a result, the possibilities for attracting new followers of a particular idea are rather questionable (Murthy 2018). Second, reliance only on social media and social networking cannot guarantee successful results because of the need for highly developed digital skills and approaches to addressing the unequal distribution of access and information (Treré & Magallanes-Blanco 2015). The analysis of the literature on social media for activism indicates that networked technologies are viewed as both effective and controversial tools to promote social protests and movements, but social media appropriation is still a unique phenomenon that requires its further analysis.

The Vinegar Protests in Brazil: Application of the Theory

In June 2013, thousands of protesters went outside and crowded the streets of many cities in Brazil in response to increasing public transportation fares. The rise of these protests was also associated with the growth of the public’s discontent regarding government policies and the financing of public services (Cardoso, Lapa & Di Fatima 2016; Chao 2013). It is important to examine and analyze the role social media played in the growth of this movement, which became known as the Vinegar Protests because of the police’s use of tear gas to counter the protesters who in turn began to use vinegar to eliminate the effects of the gas (Treré & Magallanes-Blanco 2015). The first movements against increases in public transportation fares began to grow in online spaces with the help of Facebook in the spring of 2013.

Facebook posts and events attracted the attention of two hundred users. However, the progress of the policy increased public concern about the problem, and an injunction preventing price increases was granted. Still, positive changes were not adopted in all cities in the country, and opponents of raising the fares promoted the hashtag #RevoltaDoBusao (Cardoso, Lapa & Di Fatima 2016). The first movements supported by online communities developed into active social protests in São Paulo in June 2013. People who were interested in resolving the issue could find information related to the protesters’ activities in social networks using hashtags and web community pages. More than five thousand people went to the streets to oppose fare increases, and hundreds of people were injured in fights with the police (Chao 2013; Treré & Magallanes-Blanco 2015). Before this stage in the development of the social movement, protesters who communicated via Facebook and other social media were connected by weak ties, and they were focused on collecting important information about protests and the results they had achieved.

The situation changed when the police began to use gas and resorted to violence. The ensuing images of the police’s violence were quickly spread using social media and streaming resources. Thus, Ninja Media reporters provided the most up to date images and online translations (Chao 2013). As a result, more than 150,000 people shared and viewed posts and videos on YouTube and Facebook, which led to a new wave of social protests (Cardoso, Lapa & Di Fatima 2016). At this stage, many people became emotionally involved in the social movement against increasing fares for public transport, and strong ties were built-in social networks. The consequence of these continuous interactions between online users and their observations of police violence created the need for calls to action by protesters, and a new set of conditions for the authorities to address was proposed by protesters in the streets, who in turn gained the support of a wide community in social networks. The roots of this activism can be explained concerning the possibilities to follow real-time updates regarding the situation in the streets, and this aspect created more emotional tension that caused people to act offline.

The speed of mobilizing people in all regions of Brazil was impressive, and this fact was also associated with opportunities provided by social media. Therefore, based on this case study, it is clear that the possibilities of social media appropriation for activism include a focus on the emotional content, the speed of sharing news and updates, access to many people in all regions of the country or around the globe, and the rapid spread of the intended message (Brym et al. 2014; Lapa & Cardoso 2016). As a result, the protests observed in São Paulo on June 17 involved more than 65,000 people, and the role of social media was significant in this case because they focused on realizing community action against the authorities (Cardoso, Lapa & Di Fatima 2016; Russell & Echchaibi 2009). Multimedia content that was spread with the help of social networks allowed for demonstrating what actions were expected from people and what unfair actions the authorities engaged in.

The possibilities of social media appropriation for activism were most significantly demonstrated on June 20-22, when about 2 million people were in the streets of not only São Paulo but also more than 400 cities around the country (Cardoso, Lapa & Di Fatima 2016; Lapa & Cardoso 2016). More slogans and ideas were spread with the help of social networks. Furthermore, using globalization and worldwide trends, the Brazilian activists began to spread slogans accentuating the role of Brazil in the global fight against unfair government action (Cardoso, Lapa & Di Fatima 2016; Juris 2005; Kahn & Kellner 2004). While using social media, activists gained access to various resources to attract the attention of a global public, to refer to their experience in developing social movements, and to receive support and assistance. Therefore, this case demonstrates what resources and possibilities are available to people who are intending to organize a protest or a social movement with the help of social media.

The case of the Brazilian movement also shows that the target audience that can be affected with the help of social media used for activism involves young people and students who are active users of the Internet, social networks, YouTube, and blogs. Propaganda on the Internet is primarily oriented to people who also have an active social position and can be interested in political and economic events (Brym et al. 2014; Hemmi & Crowther 2013). Researchers have emphasized the correlation between activists’ ages, education levels, use of social media, and participation in protests or other activities (Lapa & Cardoso 2016; Russell & Echchaibi 2009; Treré & Magallanes-Blanco 2015). However, despite targeting the required audience, messages, photographs, and videos spread on the Internet cannot be viewed or shared by people who live in remote areas without access to the Internet.

From this perspective, even though appropriating social media for activism provides many possibilities for Internet users, it is also important to discuss the limitations associated with using social networking sites and other platforms for developing social movements. Activists can address only a limited audience with the help of social media, and the coverage depends on people’s access to the Internet, as well as their age, education, and habits (Lapa & Cardoso 2016; Russell & Echchaibi 2009). As a result, one of the benefits of using social media has the opposite side and can be regarded as a limitation. Referring to the case of the Vinegar Protests, it is clear that messages related to the planned protests and other activities could primarily be spread only between people in large cities because of the issue of access to the web.

Another limitation is that the information and messages presented in social media can be disseminated or publicized to achieve a certain effect and increase public involvement in a social movement. As a result, the mobilization of people becomes a consequence of propaganda on social media. In the case of the Brazilian protests, many users of the Internet preferred the information spread with the help of social networks in contrast to the information offered by the mainstream or traditional media (Cardoso, Lapa & Di Fatima 2016; Lapa & Cardoso 2016). The reason for this lies in the specifics of the messages and their decoding because the authors of posts on online platforms and in social networks accentuated the significance of the information they provided for the audience. If traditional media emphasized acts of vandalism by protesters, social media accentuated police violence against people who wanted to state their opinion (Treré & Magallanes-Blanco 2015). Therefore, the case of the Vinegar Protests can illustrate how theories concerning communication and weak versus strong ties were realized in the developing social movements in Brazil in 2013.

Conclusion

The literature on social media appropriation for activism discusses such important issues as communication theory and the theory of weak and strong ties to explain how and why people can be mobilized for action with the help of social networks. The reason lies in addressing the Internet community with the help of relevant messages that emphasize the significance of the message for the users of the web. The case of the Vinegar Protests shows that information spread with the help of social media attracts people through providing updates and messages that seem to not be influenced by the authorities, as is often the case with traditional media.

Reference List

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