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Cited by 391

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 59 of the 59 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Quantifying the power and consequences of social media protest

Open access
Freelon, Deen, McIlwain, Charlton, Clark, Meredith·2018·New Media & Society

Abstract

The exercise of power has been an implicit theme in research on the use of social media for political protest, but few studies have attempted to measure social media power and its consequences directly. This study develops and measures three theoretically grounded metrics of social media power—unity, numbers, and commitment—as wielded on Twitter by a social movement (Black Lives Matter [BLM]), a counter-movement (political conservatives), and an unaligned party (mainstream news outlets) over nearly 10 months. We find evidence of a model of social media efficacy in which BLM predicts mainstream news coverage of police brutality, which in turn is the strongest driver of attention to the issue from political elites. Critically, the metric that best predicts elite response across all parties is commitment.

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Metadata

Authors
Freelon, D., McIlwain, C., & Clark, M.
Venue
New Media & Society
Published
2016-11-15
Volume
20
Issue
3
Pages
990-1011
ISSN
  • 1461-4448 (ISSN-L)
  • 1461-7315
OpenAlex
W2549661938
Cited by
391
References
59
FWCI
41.78
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Quantifying the power and consequences of social media protest. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1177/1461444816676646
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Freelon, D., McIlwain, C., & Clark, M. (2018). Quantifying the power and consequences of social media protest. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816676646

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