Journal of Communication· 2012Q1
Social Media and the Decision to Participate in Political Protest: Observations From Tahrir Square
- 1,534citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2012year
Short summary
Social media, especially Facebook, served as a crucial, uncontrollable information source that significantly increased the likelihood of citizens deciding to participate in the Tahrir Square protests.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Social media, especially Facebook, acted as an independent information channel during the Tahrir Square protests.
- Interpersonal communication via Facebook was a primary method for learning about the protests.
- Social media use significantly increased the odds of attending protests on the first day.
- Half of surveyed participants produced and disseminated protest visuals, mainly through Facebook.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Based on a survey of participants in Egypt's Tahrir Square protests, we demonstrate that social media in general, and Facebook in particular, provided new sources of information the regime could not easily control and were crucial in shaping how citizens made individual decisions about participating in protests, the logistics of protest, and the likelihood of success. We demonstrate that people learned about the protests primarily through interpersonal communication using Facebook, phone contact, or face-to-face conversation. Controlling for other factors, social media use greatly increased the odds that a respondent attended protests on the first day. Half of those surveyed produced and disseminated visuals from the demonstrations, mainly through Facebook.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Communication, 2012 · DOI ↗
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Field: Communication
CommunicationSocial Sciences