Whatever happened to Kony2012? Understanding a global Internet phenomenon as an emergent social identity

Thomas, Emma F.; McGarty, Craig; Lala, Girish; Stuart, Avelie; Hall, Lauren; Goddard, Alice

doi:10.1002/ejsp.2094

Cited by 54 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…The advent of social media has had a tremendous impact on political activism. Social media affords the dissemination of information through quick communication channels, the politicization of group identities in online communities and discussions (Alberici & Milesi, ; Thomas et al, ), the empowerment of individuals through its efficiency and instrumentality (Eltantawy & Wiest, ). Furthermore, social media is a source of awareness raising, a tool for rapid mobilization (McGarty, Thomas, Lala, Smith, & Bliuc, ; Rainie, Smith, Schlozman, Brady, & Verba, ; Tufekci & Wilson, ), and therefore a general reinforcement to activism (Postmes & Baym, ; Postmes & Brunsting, ; Rainie et al, ) with positive rather than negative impact on offline mobilization (Christensen, ; Enjolras, Steen‐Johnsen, & Wollebæk, ).…”

Section: Social Media Use and Collective Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The social affirmation use of social media as a motivator of collective action

Kende

Zomeren

Ujhelyi

et al. 2016

J Applied Social Pyschol

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The mobilizing potential of the internet has been widely recognized but also sharply criticized. We propose and test in two studies that the social affirmation use of social media motivates individuals for collective action to achieve social change. In Study 1, we surveyed participants of a university occupation and found that enduring participation was predicted by social affirmation use, mediated by group identification. In Study 2 we experimentally tested our hypothesis, the results of which confirmed that the social affirmation use of a forum (and in particular its interactive aspect) motivated individuals for collective action to achieve social change. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings for theory and research on the mobilizing potential of the internet.

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Section: Social Media Use and Collective Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The social affirmation use of social media as a motivator of collective action

Kende

Zomeren

Ujhelyi

et al. 2016

J Applied Social Pyschol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Social movements frequently use social media for collective action, and existing research has explored how social media use can mobilize activism (e.g., Kende, van Zomeren, Ujhelyi, & Lantos, ; McGarty, Thomas, Lala, Smith, & Bliuc, ; Schumann, ; Schumann & Klein, ; Spears & Postmes, ; Thomas et al ., ). However, social media activity can fulfil diverse social change functions and scant research has examined its rhetorical functions for social movements, such as how social media may be used strategically to deploy and manage social identities within contested social movements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Whose tweets? The rhetorical functions of social media use in developing the Black Lives Matter movement

Wilkins

Livingstone

Levine

2019

British J Social Psychol

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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.

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“…This suggests that institutional practices secure, disseminate, and manage intergroup boundaries – essentially enabling ingroup identities and constraining outgroup identities (Haslam, ; Haslam et al ., ). In effect, social change helps people to imagine new ways of categorizing ingroups and outgroups, which inspires hope for working towards a better future together (Thomas et al ., ).…”

Section: A Psychology Of Social Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Social psychological research on prejudice as collective action supporting emergent ingroup members

Ferguson

Branscombe

Reynolds

2018

British J Social Psychol

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Why does social psychological research on prejudice change across time? We argue that scientific change is not simply a result of empirical evidence, technological developments, or social controversies, but rather emerges out of social change‐driven shifts in how researchers categorize themselves and others within their larger societies. As mainstream researchers increasingly recategorize former outgroup members as part of a novel ingroup, prejudice research shifts in support of emergent ingroup members against their emergent outgroup opponents. Although social change‐driven science results in valuable opportunities for researchers, it also results in significant risks for research – collective, scientific biases in the inclusion and exclusion of social groups in prejudice research that are not readily detected or managed by traditional controls. We present the Emergent Ingroup Model (EIM) to encourage reflection on shared biases, as well as to spark a broader conversation on how to strengthen our field for a rapidly changing and increasingly global world.

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Whatever happened to Kony2012? Understanding a global Internet phenomenon as an emergent social identity

Cited by 54 publications

References 64 publications

The social affirmation use of social media as a motivator of collective action

The social affirmation use of social media as a motivator of collective action

Whose tweets? The rhetorical functions of social media use in developing the Black Lives Matter movement

Social psychological research on prejudice as collective action supporting emergent ingroup members

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