The Structure of Online Activism

Lewis, Kevin; Gray, Kurt; Meierhenrich, Jens

doi:10.15195/v1.a1

Cited by 121Social Media and PoliticsSocial Capital and NetworksMedia and Digital Communication

The Structure of Online Activism

Open access

Lewis, Kevin, Gray, Kurt, Meierhenrich, Jens·2014·Sociological Science

DOI 10.15195/v1.a1

Open this paper in CoChat — free account Open PDF

Abstract

Despite the tremendous amount of attention that has been paid to the internet as a tool for civic engagement, we still have little idea how "active" is the average online activist or how social networks matter in facilitating electronic protest.In this paper, we use complete records on the donation and recruitment activity of 1.2 million members of the Save Darfur "Cause" on Facebook to provide a detailed first look at a massive online social movement.While both donation and recruitment behavior are socially patterned, the vast majority of Cause members recruited no one else into the Cause and contributed no money to it-suggesting that in the case of the Save Darfur campaign, Facebook conjured an illusion of activism rather than facilitating the real thing.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.15195/v1.a1

Cites

49 of 49 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Social media in general, and Twitter in particular, have enormous capacity to elevate and sustain counterpublic voices and refocus the attention of the mainstream public sphere.
“While much of so-called 'activism' online is quite inactive in terms of sustained social change, recent work illustrates the enormous capacity for social media in general, and Twitter in particular, to elevate and sustain counterpublic voices and refocus the attention of the mainstream public sphere (Hamdy & Gomaa, 2012;Lewis, Gray, & Meierhenrich, 2014;Papacharissi & de Fatima Oliveira, 2012).”
From #Ferguson is everywhere: initiators in emerging counterpublic networks (2016) · cites this paper as Lewis, Gray, & Meierhenrich, 2014

Untitled work
(1984) · Cited by 81,983 · see citing works
The Strength of Weak Ties
Granovetter, M. S. (1973) · American Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1086/225469 · Cited by 40,491 · see citing works
Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community
(2000) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.38-2454 · Cited by 28,717 · see citing works
Untitled work
Putnam, R. (2000) · doi:10.1145/358916.361990 · Cited by 17,114 · see citing works
The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites.
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x · Cited by 9,939 · see citing works
Recenzja książki. Robert K. yin, Case Study Research. Design and Methods (fourth Edition), thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2009
Męcfal, S. (2012) · University of Lodz Repository (University of Łódź) · Cited by 6,617 · see citing works
Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility.
Darley, J. M., & Latane, B. (1968) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0025589 · Cited by 3,083 · see citing works
A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization
Bond, R. M., Fariss, C. J., Jones, J. J., Kramer, A. D. I., Marlow, C., Settle, J. E., & Fowler, J. H. (2012) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature11421 · Cited by 2,575 · see citing works
Recruitment to High-Risk Activism: The Case of Freedom Summer
McAdam, D. (1986) · American Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1086/228463 · Cited by 2,203 · see citing works
Social Implications of the Internet
DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Neuman, W. R., & Robinson, J. P. (2001) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.307 · Cited by 2,030 · see citing works
Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips
Sparrow, B., Liu, J., & Wegner, D. M. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1207745 · Cited by 1,762 · see citing works
Social Media and the Decision to Participate in Political Protest: Observations From Tahrir Square
Tüfekçi, Z., & Wilson, C. (2012) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01629.x · Cited by 1,540 · see citing works
Social Movements and Networks
Diani, M., & McAdam, D. (2003) · doi:10.1093/0199251789.001.0001 · Cited by 1,456 · see citing works
A Review of Facebook Research in the Social Sciences
Wilson, R. E., Gosling, S. D., & Graham, L. T. (2012) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691612442904 · Cited by 1,226 · see citing works
Diurnal and seasonal mood vary with work, sleep, and daylength across diverse cultures
Golder, S. A., & Macy, M. W. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1202775 · Cited by 1,155 · see citing works
Bowling Alone: The Collapse And Revival Of American Community
Putnam, & Robert, R. (2000) · Cited by 1,123 · see citing works
Homophily and contagion are generically confounded in observational social network studies
Shalizi, C. R., & Thomas, A. C. (2011) · Sociological Methods & Research · doi:10.1177/0049124111404820 · Cited by 994 · see citing works
Media and political engagement: citizens, communication, and democracy
(2009) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.47-1695 · Cited by 866 · see citing works
Beyond and Below Racial Homophily: ERG Models of a Friendship Network Documented on Facebook
Wimmer, A., & Lewis, K. (2010) · American Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1086/653658 · Cited by 695 · see citing works
Self-citation
Untitled work
(2003) · Cited by 624 · see citing works
Process and Protest: Accounting for Individual Protest Participation
Schussman, A., & Soule, S. A. (2005) · Social Forces · doi:10.1353/sof.2006.0034 · Cited by 573 · see citing works
The Effects of Seed Money and Refunds on Charitable Giving: Experimental Evidence from a University Capital Campaign
List, J. A., & Lucking‐Reiley, D. (2002) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/324392 · Cited by 560 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Mail solicitations, meanwhile, typically generate rates of 2 percent to 8 percent of people donating $10 to $50 each (Karlan and List 2007; List and Lucking-Reiley 2002), and sociological science | www.sociologicalscience.com 4 February 2014 | Volume 1 the Save Darfur campaign received more than $1…”
Background
Searching for a Mate
Rosenfeld, M. J., & Thomas, R. J. (2012) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/0003122412448050 · Cited by 549 · see citing works
Does Price Matter in Charitable Giving? Evidence from a Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment
Karlan, D., & List, J. A. (2007) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.97.5.1774 · Cited by 519 · see citing works
Social selection and peer influence in an online social network
Lewis, K., Gonzalez, M., & Kaufman, J. (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · doi:10.1073/pnas.1109739109 · Cited by 507 · see citing works
Self-citation
Giving and volunteering in the United States
Hodgkinson, V. A., & Weitzman, M. S. (1990) · Cited by 449 · see citing works
Social Networks and Collective Action
Siegel, D. A. (2009) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2008.00361.x · Cited by 446 · see citing works
"If You Don't Do it, Nobody Else Will": Active and Token Contributors to Local Collective Action
Oliver, P. E. (1984) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2095418 · Cited by 406 · see citing works
Weak Ties in Networked Communities
Kavanaugh, A., Reese, D. D., Carroll, J. M., & Rosson, M. B. (2005) · The Information Society · doi:10.1080/01972240590925320 · Cited by 374 · see citing works
The Structure and Dynamics of Movement Participation
Kim, H., & Bearman, P. (1997) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2657453 · Cited by 326 · see citing works
The Diffusion of Social Movements
Biggs, M., Andrews, K. T., Givan, R. K., Soule, S. A., & Roberts, K. M. (2010) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511761638 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
Moral Movements and Foreign Policy
Busby, J. W. (2010) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511779893 · Cited by 191 · see citing works
Social Networks and Political Participation: How Do Networks Matter?
Lim, C. (2008) · Social Forces · doi:10.1353/sof.0.0143 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Online collective identity: The case of the environmental movement
Ackland, R., & O’Neil, M. (2011) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2011.03.001 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Principles and Practice of Social Marketing
Donovan, R., & Henley, N. (2010) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511761751 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Activists Online and Offline: The Internet as an Information Channel for Protest Demonstrations
Laer, J. V. (2010) · Mobilization An International Quarterly · doi:10.17813/maiq.15.3.8028585100245801 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
War in Darfur and the search for peace
Waal, A. D. (2007) · Cited by 170 · see citing works
POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND THE INTERNET
Anduiza, E., Cantijoch, M., & Gallego, A. (2009) · Information Communication & Society · doi:10.1080/13691180802282720 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Principles and Practice of Social Marketing: An International Perspective
Donovan, R., & Henley, N. (2010) · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Pursuing Social Change Online
Earl, J. (2006) · Social Science Computer Review · doi:10.1177/0894439305284627 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
The Internet and Anti-War Activism: A Case Study of Information, Expression, and Action
Nah, S., Veenstra, A. S., & Shah, D. V. (2006) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00323.x · Cited by 84 · see citing works
A MOVEMENT OF CONNECTED INDIVIDUALS
Maireder, A., & Schwarzenegger, C. (2011) · Information Communication & Society · doi:10.1080/1369118x.2011.589908 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide
Hamilton, R. J., & Farrow, M. (2011) · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Death in Darfur
Hagan, J. L., & Palloni, A. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1127397 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Online social movements
Hara, N., & Huang, B. (2011) · Annual Review of Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/aris.2011.1440450117 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
The Arab Spring and the Role of ICTs| Introduction
Allagui, I., & Kübler, J. (2011) · International journal of communication · Cited by 50 · see citing works
The Evolution of the HIV/AIDS NGO Hyperlink Network
Shumate, M. (2012) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2011.01569.x · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Environmental Internet Activism in Britain
Pickerill, J. (2001) · Peace Review · doi:10.1080/13668800120079063 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Complicating Darfur : review of de Waal, Alex (ed.) 2007: War in Darfur and the Search for Peace
Lanz, D. (2008) · edoc (University of Basel) · doi:10.5451/unibas-ep16106 · Cited by 4 · see citing works

Flagged first, then by citations

3 of the 52 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Sorted by citations

Social Activism in and Around Organizations
Briscoe, F. S., & Gupta, A. (2016) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.1080/19416520.2016.1153261 · Cited by 395 · see citing works
Digital Emotion Contagion
Goldenberg, A., & Gross, J. J. (2020) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2020.01.009 · Cited by 321 · see citing works
#Ferguson is everywhere: initiators in emerging counterpublic networks
Jackson, S. J., & Foucault Welles, B. (2016) · Information, Communication & Society · doi:10.1080/1369118x.2015.1106571 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
The Message is on the Wall? Emotions, Social Media and the Dynamics of Institutional Complexity
Toubiana, M., & Zietsma, C. (2016) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2014.0208 · Cited by 278 · see citing works
Computational Social Science and Sociology
Edelmann, A., Wolff, T., Montagne, D., & Bail, C. A. (2020) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054621 · Cited by 305 · see citing works
Ferguson and the death of Michael Brown on Twitter: #BlackLivesMatter, #TCOT, and the evolution of collective identities
Ray, R., Brown, M. C., Fraistat, N., & Summers, E. (2017) · Ethnic and Racial Studies · doi:10.1080/01419870.2017.1335422 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Does online technology make us more or less sociable? A preliminary review and call for research
Waytz, A., & Gray, K. (2018) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691617746509 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Self-citation
On solidarity and volunteering during the COVID-19 crisis in Denmark: the impact of social networks and social media groups on the distribution of support
Carlsen, H. B., Toubøl, J., & Brincker, B. (2020) · European Societies · doi:10.1080/14616696.2020.1818270 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Love the Science, Hate the Scientists: Conservative Identity Protects Belief in Science and Undermines Trust in Scientists
Mann, M., & Schleifer, C. (2019) · Social Forces · doi:10.1093/sf/soz156 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
Portraying the Perils to Polar Bears: The Role of Empathic and Objective Perspective-taking Toward Animals in Climate Change Communication
Swim, J. K., & Bloodhart, B. (2014) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2014.987304 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
From one mind to many: the emerging science of cultural norms
Gelfand, M. J., & Jackson, J. C. (2015) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.11.002 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Boundary-Spanning in Social Movements: Antecedents and Outcomes
Wang, D. J., Piazza, A., & Soule, S. A. (2018) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-073117-041258 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Contemporary Social Movements in a Hybrid Media Environment
Caren, N., Andrews, K. T., & Lu, T. (2020) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054627 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
The nature of viral altruism and how to make it stick
van der Linden, S. (2017) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-016-0041 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
“A horrific photo of a drowned Syrian child”: Humanitarian photography and NGO media strategies in historical perspective
Fehrenbach, H., & Rodogno, D. (2015) · International Review of the Red Cross · doi:10.1017/s1816383116000369 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Channeling Hearts and Minds: Advocacy Organizations, Cognitive-Emotional Currents, and Public Conversation
Bail, C., Brown, T. W., & Mann, M. (2017) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/0003122417733673 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Gateway Political Behaviors: The Frequency and Consequences of Low-Cost Political Engagement on Social Media
Bode, L. (2017) · Social Media + Society · doi:10.1177/2056305117743349 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Globalization and Social Movements
Almeida, P., & Chase-Dunn, C. (2018) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-073117-041307 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Facebook Feminism: Social Media, Blogs, and New Technologies of Contemporary U.S. Feminism*
Crossley, A. D. (2015) · Mobilization An International Quarterly · doi:10.17813/1086-671x-20-2-253 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
The Cement of Civil Society
Diani, M. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781316163733 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
Who Leads the Conversation on Climate Change?: A Study of a Global Network of NGOs on Twitter
Vu, H. T., Do, H. V., Seo, H., & Liu, Y. (2019) · Environmental Communication · doi:10.1080/17524032.2019.1687099 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Freiwilliges Engagement in Deutschland
(2021) · Empirische Studien zum bürgerschaftlichen Engagement · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-35317-9 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Announcements of Support and Public Good Provision
Kessler, J. B. (2017) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.20130711 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Dissecting the Spirit of Gezi: Influence vs. Selection in the Occupy Gezi Movement
Budak, C., & Watts, D. J. (2015) · Sociological Science · doi:10.15195/v2.a18 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Viral Altruism? Charitable Giving and Social Contagion in Online Networks.
Lacetera, N., Macis, M., & Mele, A. (2016) · Sociological Science · doi:10.15195/v3.a11 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Three fallacies of digital footprints
Lewis, K. (2015) · Big Data & Society · doi:10.1177/2053951715602496 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Self-citation
Classifying and Relating Different Types of Online and Offline Volunteering
Ihm, J. (2017) · VOLUNTAS International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations · doi:10.1007/s11266-016-9826-9 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Self-Correcting Dynamics in Social Influence Processes
van de Rijt, A. (2019) · American Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1086/702899 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
A Member Saved Is a Member Earned? The Recruitment-Retention Trade-Off and Organizational Strategies for Membership Growth
Shi, Y., Dokshin, F. A., Genkin, M., & Brashears, M. E. (2017) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/0003122417693616 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Constructing the Visual Online Political Self
Mahoney, J., Feltwell, T., Ajuruchi, O., & Lawson, S. W. (2016) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2858036.2858160 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Social Movement Organizations
Walker, E. T., & Martin, A. W. (2018) · doi:10.1002/9781119168577.ch9 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Opening up the black box: citizen group strategies for engaging grassroots activism in the twenty-first century
Han, H. C., Sparks, A. C., & Towery, N. D. (2017) · Interest Groups & Advocacy · doi:10.1057/s41309-017-0010-4 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Taming Big Data
Bail, C. A. (2015) · Sociological Methods & Research · doi:10.1177/0049124115587825 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
#fridaysforfuture – What does Instagram tell us about a social movement?
Herrmann, C., Rhein, S., & Dorsch, I. (2022) · Journal of Information Science · doi:10.1177/01655515211063620 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Relationship between Personal Technology Use and the Donor/Volunteer: A Parasocial Approach
Pressrove, G., & Pardun, C. J. (2016) · Journal of Promotion Management · doi:10.1080/10496491.2015.1107012 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Obligatory Publicity Increases Charitable Acts
Yang, A. X., & Hsee, C. K. (2021) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucab020 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Toward Permeable Boundaries of Organizations?
Ringel, L., Hiller, P., & Zietsma, C. (2018) · Research in the sociology of organizations · doi:10.1108/s0733-558x20180000057001 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Digital Emotion Contagion.Preprint
Goldenberg, A., & Gross, J. (2019) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.31219/osf.io/53bdu · Cited by 282 · see citing works
Nature and Outcome of Nigeria's #NoToSocialMediaBill Twitter Protest against the Frivolous Petitions Bill 2015
Oladapo, O. A., & Ojebuyi, B. R. (2017) · Advances in electronic government, digital divide, and regional development book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-1859-4.ch007 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Wands up! Internet-mediated social advocacy organizations and youth-oriented connective action
McInroy, L. B., & Beer, O. W. J. (2020) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/1461444820964809 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Общественный активизм российских граждан в офлайн- и онлайн-пространствах
Парма, Р. В. (2021) · Monitoring obŝestvennogo mneniâ: èkonomičeskie i socialʹnye peremeny · doi:10.14515/monitoring.2021.6.2042 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
A cross-cultural comparison of millennials’ engagement with and donation to nonprofits: a hybrid U&G and TAM framework
Florenthal, B., & Awad, M. (2021) · International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing · doi:10.1007/s12208-021-00292-5 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Corporate Activism and Corporate IdentityPreprint
Li, L. Z., & Soule, S. A. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.31235/osf.io/p8gqz · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Kadınların Madun Sorunsalı ve Bir Alternatif Olarak Yeni Medyada Dijital Aktivizm: Change.org
DEMİR, S. K., & Kestel, S. (2017) · İstanbul Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi | Istanbul University Faculty of Communication Journal · doi:10.17064/iuifd.321654 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Open strategizing on social media: A process model of emotional mechanisms and outcomes from un-orchestrated participation
Lundgren-Henriksson, E.-L., & Sorsa, V. (2023) · Long range planning · doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2023.102320 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
TED Talks on International Development: Trans-Hegemonic Promise and Ritualistic Constraints
Denskus, T., & Esser, D. E. (2015) · Communication Theory · doi:10.1111/comt.12066 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Create Solidarity Networks: Dialogs in Reddit to Overcome Depression and Suicidal Ideation among Males
Redondo-Sama, G., Folch, T. M., Burgués, A., Amador, J., & Magaraggia, S. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph182211927 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Engaged Online: Social Media and Youth Civic Engagement in Kenya
Kamau, S. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-40949-8_6 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Non-state Actors and Global Crime Governance: Explaining the Variance of Public-private Interaction
Jakobi, A. P. (2015) · The British Journal of Politics and International Relations · doi:10.1111/1467-856x.12064 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
The digital divide within the women’s movement in Ghana: Implications for voice and inclusion
Fallon, K. M., & Boutilier, S. (2021) · Social movement studies · doi:10.1080/14742837.2021.1967122 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
A Field-Experimental Study of Emergent Mobilization in Online Collective Action*
Vaillant, G. G., Tyagi, J., Akın, A. İ., Poma, F. P., Schwartz, M. K., & van de Rijt, A. (2015) · Mobilization An International Quarterly · doi:10.17813/1086-671x-20-3-281 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
The role of social media in shaping the animal protection movement in indonesia
Aji, A. P. (2019) · Jurnal Studi Komunikasi (Indonesian Journal of Communications Studies) · doi:10.25139/jsk.v3i3.1666 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Instagram affordances among post-pregnant body advocates
Singh, L. (2019) · Malmö University Publications (Malmö University) · Cited by 10 · see citing works
From pixels to protest
Gomez, E. M., & Kaiser, C. R. (2019) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-814715-3.00011-4 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Success-Breeds-Success in Collective Political Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment
van de Rijt, A., Akın, A. İ., Willer, R., & Feinberg, M. (2016) · Sociological Science · doi:10.15195/v3.a41 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Is Slacktivism Underrated? Measuring the Value of Slacktivists for Online Social Movements
Bozarth, L., & Budak, C. (2017) · Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media · doi:10.1609/icwsm.v11i1.14908 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Taking up the baton? New campaigning organisations and the enactment of representative functions
Dommett, K., & Rye, D. (2017) · Politics · doi:10.1177/0263395717725934 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Cultivating an organizational effort for development
Crumpton, M. A. (2016) · The Bottom Line Managing Library Finances · doi:10.1108/bl-02-2016-0010 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Oppression by omission: An analysis of the #WhereIsTheInterpreter hashtag campaign around COVID-19 on Twitter
Lattimer, T. A., & Ophir, Y. (2022) · Media Culture & Society · doi:10.1177/01634437221135977 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Towards an integrated social media communication model for the not-for-profit sector: a case study of youth homelessness charities
Sutherland, K. E. (2017) · Figshare · doi:10.4225/03/58b75a604b8fb · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Terrorism and Social Movements
Beck, C. J., & Schoon, E. W. (2017) · The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements · doi:10.1002/9781119168577.ch40 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
The affiliative use of emoji and hashtags in the Black Lives Matter movement: A Twitter case studyPreprint
Alfano, M., Reimann, R., Quintana, I. O., Cheong, M., & Klein, C. (2021) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-741674/v1 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Civil Organizing in War: Evidence from Syrian Facebook Communities
Khoury, R. B., & Siegel, A. (2024) · Perspectives on Politics · doi:10.1017/s1537592724001907 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
New Problems, New Publics? Dewey and New Media: New Problems, New Publics? Dewey and New Media
Farrell, H. (2014) · Policy & Internet · doi:10.1002/1944-2866.poi363 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Understanding digitally networked action: A case study of #HomeToVote and the Irish abortion referendum 2018
Zhang, X. (2021) · Studies in Communication and Media · doi:10.5771/2192-4007-2021-4-502 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“I Wouldn’t Classify Myself as an Activist”
Chalhoub, H., Ciavattone, D., & Wetzel, C. B. (2016) · Humanity & Society · doi:10.1177/0160597616639711 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Hashtag Activism and the Transnationalization of Nigerian-Born Movements Against Terrorism
Endong, F. P. C. (2018) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-7119-3.ch018 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Digital Media and Indonesian Young People: Building Sustainable Democratic Institutions and Practices
Suwana, F. (2018) · Queensland University of Technology · doi:10.5204/thesis.eprints.117670 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Protest, Medien und Politische Kommunikation
Baringhorst, S., & Yang, M. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-26233-4_20 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
The personal is political: Emotional performances and political mobilisations among Bangladeshi women
Gama, F. (2018) · Vibrant Virtual Brazilian Anthropology · doi:10.1590/1809-43412018v15n1a200 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Protest, Medien und Politische Kommunikation
Baringhorst, S., & Yang, M. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-26242-6_20-1 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Self-correcting dynamics in social influence processes
van de Rijt, A. (2022) · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · doi:10.4337/9781789909432.00033 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Poikkeuksellinen viestintä
Miia, G., Outi, U., & Milla, U. (2022) · doi:10.31885/2022.00001 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Social Movements in Tunisia and Egypt: A Tale of Two Revolutions
Mahmoud, A. (2015) · International Journal of Social Science Studies · doi:10.11114/ijsss.v3i3.718 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Digitale Zivilgesellschaft in DeutschlandPreprint
Dobusch, L. (2014) · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · doi:10.17169/fudocs_document_000000020121 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“I Need Ammunition, Not a Ride”: The Ukrainian Cyber War
Munk, T., & Ahmad, J. (2022) · Comunicação e Sociedade · doi:10.17231/comsoc.42(2022).4021 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Shouts from the Void: A Mixed-Method Analysis Surrounding the Online Chronic Illness Community, NEISVoid
Lattimer, T. A., Tenzek, K. E., & Ophir, Y. (2023) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2023.2250939 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“SpanishIndignadosand the evolution of 15M: toward networked para-institutions” by Ismael Peña López, Mariluz Congosto and Pablo Aragón
Fominaya, C. F. (2014) · Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies · doi:10.1080/14636204.2014.938435 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Token Gestures: Online causes may attract many more clicks than commitments
Bower, B. (2014) · Science News · doi:10.1002/scin.2014.5591860122 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Emotional Sharing on Social Media: How Twitter Replies Contribute to Increased Emotional IntensityPreprint
Goldenberg, A., Gross, J. J., & García, D. (2018) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/cbv5j · Cited by 3 · see citing works
The Role of Celebrity and Status in the Performance–Pay Relationship: Evidence from the ‘Big Five’ European Football Leagues
Giangreco, A., Slavich, B., Piazza, A., Castellucci, F., & Mohadjer, C. (2021) · M n gement · doi:10.37725/mgmt.v24i1.4511 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Sick kids versus whom? Childhood disability and charitable campaigns on Instagram
Zegarra, D. Z., & Abrams, T. (2023) · Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies · doi:10.1177/13548565231211310 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Sevenfold Paths: HCI Journeys through Dystopian Sins and Utopian Virtues
Vigh, E., Weir, E., Howard, J., & Roudaut, A. (2024) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/3613905.3644064 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
A research agenda for encouraging prosocial behaviour on social media
Dorr, T. G., Nagpal, T., Watts, D. J., & Bail, C. A. (2025) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-025-02102-y · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Beyond Cheap and Biased: Informal Volunteering on Social Media During the COVID-19 Crisis
Carlsen, H. B., & Toubøl, J. (2025) · Social Media + Society · doi:10.1177/20563051241304613 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Hashtag Activism and the Transnationalization of Nigerian-Born Movements Against Terrorism
Endong, F. P. C. (2018) · Advances in social networking and online communities book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-2854-8.ch003 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
+Ciudadanía digital: activismo juvenil en plataformas de e-peticiones
Caceres, M. D., Román, J. A. R. S., Corral, E. M., & Brändle, G. (2020) · Hispana · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Nutzung des Internets für die freiwillige Tätigkeit
Tesch‐Römer, C., & Huxhold, O. (2021) · Empirische Studien zum bürgerschaftlichen Engagement · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-35317-9_12 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT AND THE DYNAMICS OF ONLINE ACTIVISM: FAR-RIGHT MOBILIZATION ON FACEBOOK*
Davidson, T. (2024) · Mobilization An International Quarterly · doi:10.17813/1086-671x-22-4-445 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Hashtag activism in Russia: theory and practice
Гуреева, А. Н., & Самородова, Э. В. (2021) · Russian Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/19409419.2021.1972828 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Psycho-Demographic Analysis of the Facebook Rainbow CampaignPreprint
Wang, Y., Lakkaraju, H., Kosiński, M., & Leskovec, J. (2016) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1610.05358 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Engagement of Russian Citizens in Public Participation Online
Парма, Р. В. (2022) · Russian Foundation for Basic Research Journal Humanities and social sciences · doi:10.22204/2587-8956-2021-107-05-63-73 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Producing the “We” in High-Risk Online Activism: Identity Configurations in My Stealthy Freedom
Ostovar, M., & Schultze, U. (2025) · MIS Quarterly · doi:10.25300/misq/2025/17121 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
AIndividualism and Algorithmic Collectivism: rethinking individual–collective dynamics in the age of AI
Özerim, M. G. (2026) · AI & Society · doi:10.1007/s00146-026-02882-5 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Social media slacktivism for the health advocate
Yorke, J., & BLAKE, K. D. (2014) · Dalhousie Medical Journal · doi:10.15273/dmj.vol41no1.5943 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
War Crimes, Wristbands, and Web 2.0: Exploring Online Justice Advocacy, Colonialism and ‘Civilizing Missions’ through Kony2012
Steele, S. L., Shores, T., & Pollastrini, Y. (2013) · Journal of Hate Studies · doi:10.33972/jhs.96 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Using Social Media to Organize a Marginalized Community
Burton, T. R. (2021) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-9029-4.ch011 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Cross-Examining the Effectiveness of E-Advocacy as a Tool for Advancing Womens Rights in Nigeria
Popoola, R. O., Egharevba, M. E., & Fayomi, O. O. (2019) · International Journal of Electronic Governance · doi:10.1504/ijeg.2020.10025999 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
The Dark and Light Sides of Big Data
Jenkins, J. C. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108147828.013 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Media framing of sexual and gender-based violence in Kenya: reporting of justice for Liz.
Koga, V. R. A. (2014) · University of Nairobi Research Archive (University of Nairobi) · Cited by 1 · see citing works

Facebook: The enabler of online civic engagement for activists
Warren, A. M., Sulaiman, A. B., & Jaafar, N. I. (2014) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.12.017 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Organizing Online: Activists' Differential Uses of the Internet and the Implications for Social Movement Participation
Rohlinger, D. A., Bunnage, L. A., & Brown, J. (2009)
Muted Activism?: Examining Planned Behavior, Participation, and Motivations of Social Movement Organization Online Message Recipients
Sanford, A. L., & McBride, T. G. (2012) · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Does (digital) activism matter? exploring the evolution of collective action : the case of Irianna's solidarity movement in Greece
Ioannou, M. (2019) · Ktisis at Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus University of Technology)
A “Two-Level Social Capital Analysis” of the Role of Online Communication in Civic Activism: Lessons From the Role of Facebook in the Sunflower Movement
Tsatsou, P., & Zhao, Y. (2016) · Social Media + Society · doi:10.1177/2056305116671967 · Cited by 16 · see citing works

Authors: Lewis, K., Gray, K., & Meierhenrich, J.
Affiliations: University of California San Diego (US)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
ORCID: Lewis, Kevin
Gray, Kurt
Venue: Sociological Science
Publisher: Society for Sociological Science
Published: 2014
Pages: 1-9
ISSN: 2330-6696 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.15195/v1.a1
OpenAlex: W2244645465
Cited by: 121
References: 52
Citations by year: 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 1
FWCI: 47.13
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: gold
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
Locations: Sociological Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (submittedVersion)
London School of Economics and Political Science Theses Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (submittedVersion)
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics: Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Capital and Networks
Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Media and Digital Communication
Keywords: digital activism, social movements, Facebook, online recruitment, online donation, citizen participation, social networks

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

The Structure of Online Activism

Abstract

Integrity signals

Claims the paper makes

Claims other papers make about this one

Cites

Cited by

Related

Record

About these checks