Peer-to-peer energy-trading platforms (P2P) have the potential to transform the current energy system. However, research is presently scarce on how people would like to participate in, and what would they expect to gain from, such platforms. We address this gap by exploring these questions in the context of the UK energy market. Using a qualitative interview study, we examine how 45 people with an interest in renewable energy understand P2P. We find that the prospective users value the collective benefits of P2P, and understand participation as a mechanism to support social, ecological and economic benefits for communities and larger groups. Drawing on the findings from the interview analysis, we explore broad design characteristics that a prospective P2P energy trading platform should provide to meet the expectations and concerns voiced by our study participants.

Research on collective action frequently characterizes social media as a tool for mobilization. However, social media activity can fulfil a variety of different functions for social change. In particular, the rhetorical functions of social media use by social movements are not well understood. We address this shortfall by analysing the rhetorical functions of Twitter use during an early stage of the Black Lives Matter social movement. We examine how activists used Twitter to balance competing aims for social change, such as growing the movement beyond disadvantaged‐group members, while preventing appropriation or dilution of their message by advantaged‐group ‘allies’. We find that although Twitter users promote different, and often competing, definitions of the issues that the movement represents, rhetorical strategies are used to advance inclusive definitions that focus on racism. When activists address alternative definitions of movement actors and issues, representations of Otherness are used to characterize the proponents of these definitions as in opposition to the movement. Finally, we find that one way of resolving the tension between growing the movement and promoting disadvantaged‐group control is by using identity and technology resources to explicitly define (1) how different groups can be movement advocates, and (2) action strategies for social change.

Social media is increasingly used for social protest, but does internet-enabled action lead to 'slacktivism' or promote increased activism? We show that the answer to this question depends on prior level of activism, and on beliefs about the effectiveness of individual contribution to the collective campaign. Internet-enabled action was varied quasiexperimentally, with participants (n = 143) choosing whether or not to share a campaign on social media. Participants were then informed that sharing on social media had a big (high action efficacy) or small (low action efficacy) impact on achieving the campaign's goal. Prior levels of activism were measured before the experiment, and general levels of collective action were measured one week after the experiment. Taking internet-enabled action for one campaign increased future activism for other campaignsbut only in individuals who were already active and who perceived their actions to be an effective contribution to the campaign.