The integrative power of online collective action networks beyond protest. Exploring social media use in the process of institutionalization

Abstract

In this article, we aim at expanding the event-based and protest-centered perspective that is typically adopted to study the nexus between social media and movements. To this aim, we propose a network-based approach to explore the changing role that these tools play during the dynamic unfolding of movement processes and, more particularly, over the course of their institutionalization. In the first part, we read the added value of social media as a function of the ‘integrative power’ of the networks they foster – a unique and evolving form of sociotechnical power that springs from the virtuous encounter between social media networking potential and social resources. In the second part, we investigate this form of power by focusing directly on online networks’ structure as well as on the type of communication and participation environments they host. We apply our proposed approach to the longitudinal exploration of the Twitter networks deployed in the period 2012–2014 during three annual editions of the transnational feminist campaign ‘Take Back The Tech!’ (TBTT). Results from our case study suggest that, over time, TBTT supporters do in fact make a differentiated use of social media affordances – progressively switching their communicative strategies to better sustain the campaign’s efforts inside and outside institutional venues. Thus, the exploration of the TBTT case provides evidence of the usefulness of the proposed approach to reflect on the different modes in which social media can be exploited in different mobilization stages and political terrains.     

A Systems View of Companies’ Communication in Online Social Environments

In order to enrich previous contributions interested in the identification of possible pathways to improve companies’ capabilities to better face the challenges imposed by increasing social and economic variety, this paper focuses attention on the role of companies’ communications in online social environments. Thanks to the adoption of systems thinking, the paper enlarges existing contributions on companies’ online communication by combining the research streams of signalling theory, capital need theory, and legitimacy theory. By building on a multi-disciplinary literature review, this paper identifies three variables to analyse the effectiveness of companies’ communication based on the use of social networks: the frequency, the instability, and the previous activities. Empirical research is proposed with reference to a sample composed by the 50 best performing European companies in terms of return on sales (ROS) (USD) in 2015 via the use of structural equation modelling (SEM). SEM is applied to explore the relationships among identified variables in companies’ online communication on Facebook and Instagram, and how those communications influence companies’ economic performance in terms of ROS.     

Extending the local: activist types and forms of social media use in the case of an anti-mining struggle

As political activists increasingly use social media in local protests, scholars must redirect attention from large-scale campaigns to scrutinize the ways in which geographically confined actors use social media to engage in protests. This paper analyses how a 2013 anti-mining campaign in Kallak, Sweden, combined on-site resistance with social media strategies via Facebook pages. The study examines which activist roles and forms of social media use that emerged and aims to explore what larger practical and theoretical implications one can derive from this specific case of place-based struggles. Results show that three typologically distinct activist roles emerged during the protests: local activists, digital movement intellectuals and digital distributors. These different types of actors were involved in four different forms of social media use: mobilization, construction of the physical space, extension of the local and augmentation of local and translocal bonds. Based on our findings, we argue that the coming together of these different activist roles and the different uses of social media added a translocal dimension to the peripheral and physically remote political conflict in Kallak. Media users were able to extend a locally and physically situated protest by linking it to a global contentious issue such as the mining boom and its consequences for indigenous populations.     

Opportunities and challenges of the digital lifespan: views of service providers and citizens in the UK

Information about UK citizens’ use of digital technologies is often expressed in statistics – x% lack Internet access; y% get online to engage in online banking, update social media sites, or participate in online auctions. There are many social implications to digital technology use, however – individuals may communicate online as a major way to stay in touch with friends and family, and as Internet access rises and government and public sector budgets shrink, online services become an increasingly attractive way for government and public sector service providers to communicate with citizens. This paper presents selected results of an exploratory study designed to investigate the digital personhood of UK citizens through interviews with participants at three life transitions: leaving secondary school, becoming a parent, and retiring from work. Digital personhood in this paper implies identity information online, and some interaction with others around that information. We then report on our presentation of a selection of these results to thirteen stakeholders who represented UK government departments, public sector organisations, and industry. We found that citizen and stakeholder concerns were quite different, especially at the new parent life transition, and that stakeholders tended to underestimate the willingness and ability of citizens to become involved online with the government and public sector, and overestimate citizens’ vulnerability online. Future research should investigate practical strategies for increasing communication between stakeholders and citizens, and also how to encourage stakeholders to work together to benefit their common clientele – the citizens.     

In (partial) defence of offensive art: Whitehouse as Freirean codification

Arguments over the value of ‘extreme music’ (metal, power electronics, noise, etc.) and the use of highly controversial imagery within these genres have existed since its inception. Detractors claim that using extreme imagery such as fascist symbols, pornography and racially charged photographs inherently promotes the corrosive ideologies behind these images. Some purveyors of extreme music disagree, arguing that musicians use these images to explore humanity’s darker elements which, in turn, allow audiences to better understand these problematic aspects of modern society. When played out within underground music communities, these arguments often devolve into name calling and accusations of censorship. However, by addressing extreme music on its own terms and critiquing the effectiveness of these genres, a more nuanced understanding of the issues intrinsically embedded within extreme music emerges. In this article, I employ this approach by exploring the music and imagery of power electronics band Whitehouse and argue that the ambiguous nature of their work partially mirrors the intention behind Paulo Freire’s concept of codifications. While this notion provides some defence for extreme music more broadly, the lack of venues that promote communal explorations of these images hinders the genre’s ability to achieve its own goals.     

The Impact of Training Videos on Attitudes About Parenting After Divorce

Many U.S. states require divorcing parents to take education classes about the impact of divorce on parents and children. As educators, psychiatrists, social workers, and others create these classes, it is important to evaluate what elements of the curriculum are effective in achieving targeted outcomes. Successful Coparenting After Divorce (https://coparenting.fsu.edu) is a free online divorce education course that focuses on issues such as the emotional impact of divorce, conflict reduction, and skills for parental cooperation. The course also includes videos covering topics including examples of negative and positive parental behavior, and testimonials from children. Pilot testing of the videos and the overall course impact with divorcing parents (n = 218) suggested that the videos’ utility were significantly related to the positive change in parents’ perceptions of their relationship with their former spouse, and their child-focused attitudes. Implications for practitioners who design or provide divorce education to parents are discussed.     

The use of political motherhood in Egypt’s Arab Spring uprising and aftermath

ABSTRACT

Political motherhood, which uses traditional motherhood to mobilize and sustain women’s political participation, is understudied in political science. Women played a significant role in Egypt’s Arab Spring and its aftermath by “bargaining with patriarchy” and strategically using traditional motherhood to access the political sphere. In this article, we develop a theoretical argument based on the work of Gentry, Carreon and Moghadam and Amar. We illustrate it with examples drawn from news articles on women’s political activism and social media posts by Egyptian activists. Our argument explores how women’s agency and the larger political context in which women operate reveals how political motherhood takes the particular shape that it does. In the context of Egypt, we examine how the state’s choice to highlight women as “hypervisible” citizens, worthy of protection, backfired. Through a bottom-up political motherhood, women used their respectability as mothers in need of state protection against the state, thereby legitimizing anti-Mubarak and anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations and challenging these governments.     

基于轨迹和波动的新生网商成长模式及特征研究

新生网商是网络零售市场的重要经济主体,研究其成长模式及特征有助于揭示电子商务环境下新生企业成长的内在机制。本文依据Penrose企业成长理论及新生网商成长特点的相关研究,提出以成长轨迹（具有路径依赖特征）和成长波动的二维框架对成长模式进行识别,并针对新生网商成长不连续特征提出相对扩张指标来描述其时序轨迹。对电子商务平台上5582家新生网商的相对扩张轨迹进行时序k-means聚类发现,新生网商存在三类典型成长轨迹（加速/匀速/减速）,同时对成长波动划分高/低水平,从而在二维矩阵框架下得到六类成长模式的网商。分析表明网商成长模式与其所经营的产品类型、初始主营类目、从属主营类目和类目转换次数具有统计显著的相关性,其中初始主营类目对成长模式的影响最大;"珠宝手表"类目中减速/低波动模式的新生网商占比远高于其他类目,"服装"类目中匀速/高波动模式的新生网商占比高于其他类目。同时,不同成长模式的网商在销售绩效及信誉等级指标上存在统计显著差异,其中,加速/高波动的新生网商与其他类别网商之间的销售绩效差异最大,加速/低波动的网商与其他成长模式网商的信誉等级差异最大。本文为电子商务平台评价新生网商成长过程和提供个性化服务提供了理论基础。     

阿米巴经营模式下面向定制需求的生产线管理机制设计

为了应对在线定制订单在数量、质量、交货期等方面的需求以及生产线各阶段产出的随机性,生产商可基于阿米巴经营模式设计车间管理机制。将生产线各工序划分为n个相对独立的阿米巴组织,相邻阿米巴进行定价和交易。考虑承诺交货期对产出合格率及总成本的影响,分散决策下,基于产出不足惩罚机制构建包含计划投产量及承诺交货期决策的斯坦伯格博弈模型。集中决策下,基于资源共享机制构建包含n个决策变量的非线性优化模型,通过计算n阶HESSE矩阵的k阶主子式证明最优解的存在性及唯一性。基于惩罚成本及现货市场采购成本共担机制实现针对各个阿米巴的绩效分配及激励。在算例分析的基础主要得出如下结论：随着各阶段投产量的增大,各阿米巴及整体期望利润先上升后下降;给予客户的延期交货价格折扣越大,对于前n-1个阿米巴可能越有利,但对于最后一个阿米巴及整体可能越不利;合格率的波动性越大,各阿米巴及整体期望利润越低。基于阿米巴经营的车间管理机制设计、产出合格率影响因素的考虑、n级供应链的博弈协调等具有理论和实践价值。     

归因视角下消费者在线评论及感知有用性的影响因素分析

在网络购物中,消费者往往会参考在线评论及其从中得到的有用信息制定购买决策。基于这种认识,文章从归因视角下对消费者和评论者心理控制倾向给消费者在线评论及其感知有用性带来的影响展开了分析,以找出影响消费者感知在线评论有用性的因素。