Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution
This article explores how social media acted as a catalyst for protest mobilization during the Tunisian revolution in late 2010 and early 2011. Using evidence from protests we argue that social media acted as an important resource for popular mobilization against the Ben Ali regime. Drawing on insig...
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis
2014
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33995/ |
| _version_ | 1848794751477743616 |
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| author | Breuer, Anita Landman, Todd Farquhar, Dorothea |
| author_facet | Breuer, Anita Landman, Todd Farquhar, Dorothea |
| author_sort | Breuer, Anita |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This article explores how social media acted as a catalyst for protest mobilization during the Tunisian revolution in late 2010 and early 2011. Using evidence from protests we argue that social media acted as an important resource for popular mobilization against the Ben Ali regime. Drawing on insights from “resource mobilization theory”, we show that social media (1) allowed a “digital elite” to break the national media blackout through brokering information for mainstream media; (2) provided a basis for intergroup collaboration for a large “cycle of protest”; (3) reported event magnitudes that raised the perception of success for potential free riders, and (4) provided additional “emotional mobilization” through depicting the worst atrocities associated with the regime’s response to the protests. These findings are based on background talks with Tunisian bloggers and digital activists and a revealed preference survey conducted among a sample of Tunisian internet users (February–May 2012). |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:21:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-33995 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:21:10Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-339952020-05-04T16:46:51Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33995/ Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution Breuer, Anita Landman, Todd Farquhar, Dorothea This article explores how social media acted as a catalyst for protest mobilization during the Tunisian revolution in late 2010 and early 2011. Using evidence from protests we argue that social media acted as an important resource for popular mobilization against the Ben Ali regime. Drawing on insights from “resource mobilization theory”, we show that social media (1) allowed a “digital elite” to break the national media blackout through brokering information for mainstream media; (2) provided a basis for intergroup collaboration for a large “cycle of protest”; (3) reported event magnitudes that raised the perception of success for potential free riders, and (4) provided additional “emotional mobilization” through depicting the worst atrocities associated with the regime’s response to the protests. These findings are based on background talks with Tunisian bloggers and digital activists and a revealed preference survey conducted among a sample of Tunisian internet users (February–May 2012). Taylor & Francis 2014-04-09 Article PeerReviewed Breuer, Anita, Landman, Todd and Farquhar, Dorothea (2014) Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution. Democratization, 22 (4). pp. 764-792. ISSN 1743-890X Political Protest Mobilization Information Technologies Social Media Tunisia http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2014.885505 doi:10.1080/13510347.2014.885505 doi:10.1080/13510347.2014.885505 |
| spellingShingle | Political Protest Mobilization Information Technologies Social Media Tunisia Breuer, Anita Landman, Todd Farquhar, Dorothea Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution |
| title | Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution |
| title_full | Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution |
| title_fullStr | Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution |
| title_short | Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution |
| title_sort | social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the tunisian revolution |
| topic | Political Protest Mobilization Information Technologies Social Media Tunisia |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33995/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33995/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33995/ |