CollectiveAction2.0: The Impact of ICT-Based Social Media on Collective Action – Difference in Degree or Difference in Kind?

The events in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa were referred in the media as the ‘Arab Spring’ and been described as Twitter and Facebook Revolutions. In this paper, the author addresses the information-technological relation between mass-protests (as a form of collective action) and social media. The paper uses the sociological framework in the field of collective action and social media and connects it with theories of information and communication technologies in the context of social movements.

The paper begins with an outline of relevant models of the social movement theory, a description of the role that ICT play in collective action in accordance with these models follows and then continues with a close analysis of the impact social media has on collective action. This work concludes with a description of the adjustments required in the analysis - framework, as social media changes the collective action equation, with emphasize on the possible dangers that should be avoided when addressing social media’s role collective action.