Issue Communication Network Dynamics in Connective Action: The Role of Non-Political Influencers and Regular Users

Abstract

Social media influencers (SMIs) have prevailed in online communication networks and can play key roles in connective action. However, how influencers connectively drive activism communication network is less clear. This study conceptualizes issue influencers as users who emerge as influential nodes in shaping the communication network in a contentious political issue niche. A new typology of influencers is proposed based on both issue and platform influence. Drawing on connective action theory and SMI studies, this study employed a Stochastic Actor-Oriented Model to examine how structural (endogenous) processes and influencer-level (exogenous) characteristics explain the communication network dynamics among issue influencers based on 200,000 Weibo posts from approximately 150,000 unique users about a gender policy discussion in China. The results show reciprocity, closure triplets, and influencer-level attributes including issue stance and influencer status significantly drive the longitudinal activism communication network. This study suggests that, when political influencers are absent, non-political influencers and regular users can effectively lead a contentious communication network on a platform with increasing censorship and suppression.

Embodied Political Influencers: How U.S. Anti-Abortion Actors Co-Opt Narratives of Marginalization

“…Yet in this case, the influencer demonstrates their shared identity with their followers to manipulate their political opinion. They perform authenticity (Abidin, 2015;Abidin & Ots, 2016;Abidin & Thompson, 2012;Banet-Weiser, 2012Duffy, 2017;McQuarrie et al, 2013) to enhance their credibility with marginalized communities and the potential political impact of their messaging (Goodwin et al, 2023;Ma & Zhang, 2022;Mirbabaie et al, 2021;Schmuck et al, 2022;Stewart et al, 2023;Tang, 2023). Rather than forcing members of marginalized groups to "authenticate" themselves (Reddi et al, 2021), they authenticate their own position in the marginalized community expressly for the purpose of manipulating opinion.…”

“…The logic behind these choices is that "these regular people have more intimate, local connections" and their messaging will "hit harder" (Woolley, 2023, p. 88). Studies in various contexts have shown that social media influencers, political and otherwise, can increase their followers' interest in politics (Schmuck et al, 2022), shape discourse on political issues (Tang, 2023), and act as catalysts in connective action movements (Ma & Zhang, 2022;Mirbabaie et al, 2021). This gives credence to the power of political and social micro-or nanoinfluencers within intimate, smaller, and highly connected social media spaces.…”

Political Influencers on Social Media: An Introduction

“…Finally, Tang (2023) investigates digital connective action in response to a controversial policy issued by the Chinese Communist Party, which targets the expression of effeminate gender aesthetics among men. By examining how a contentious political issue such as the new policy is discussed by Weibo users, the author demonstrates that who becomes an influencer remains in flux and is issue-specific as well as platform-specific.…”