Abstract
The study of social movements and their organizational structure is extensive and widely debated. However, the introduction of social media in social movements asks for a new approach to understanding social movement organizations and new forms thereof. This study analyzes the role of social media as organizing agents in social movements, by looking at the use of Twitter during the 2019 Paro Nacional movement in Colombia. These protests, that erupted in November of 2019, were characterized by great mobilizations with a very diverse participant body (a novelty for Colombia) and widespread use of social media. Therefore, this study aims to understand the relationship between social media use, protest participation and social movement organization. It brings together concepts from social movement theory, organizational theory and social media to the analysis of original quantitative and qualitative data on participation and the use of social media at the Paro Nacional, in order to explain the size and diversity in participants of the 2019 protests. The study finds that the use of Twitter enabled the emergence of a collective identity, offering more flexible ways to participate in the Paro Nacional. This resulted in a widespread and diverse mobilization that was facilitated by Twitter as an organizing agent, with little to no formal organization present. The study argues that this case shows how the use of social media in social movements is giving way to new forms of social movement organization, participation and membership, affecting the social movement’s structures, performance and endurance.
Presenters
Juliët TinebraLecturer, PhD Candidate, Institute for History, Leiden University, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Social Movements, Social Media, Collective Identity, Colombia, Paro Nacional
