Social media and social movements around the world: lessons and theoretical approaches

Abstract

Undoubtedly, the Internet has a multilevel impact on the everyday life of the humankind. In the age of web 2.0, social media have proven to be an essential tool for social movements; to spread their ideas, gain followers and go into action, showing to the world testimonies, pictures, and videos in real time. Using updated research evidence and diverse approaches, this study focuses on the social media role in nine social protests of the twenty-first century that are now part of the history and allowed important conclusions for the scientific and practical understanding of this issue. Social network participation is not isolated from the countries’ characteristics and the media. For this reason, social, political, and communicational factors that contextualize these cases are presented, developing some theoretical models.