Suchergebnisse

The Egyptian revolution of 2011 presents an important case study for research on digital activism and online mobilization, however, most of the research has focused on the online tools available to activists, without empirically examining their online social networks, or whether they reflect networks on the ground. This article uses social network theory of brokerage, social movements theory of coalition building, and social network analysis to examine the Egyptian revolution at two different time points, representing movement solidarity and schism. I examine the Twitter network structures of Egyptian activists, identifying those who occupied strategic positions connecting activists of different ideological backgrounds. I then test whether these online brokers correspond to brokers on the ground. I find that, similarly to offline activism, online brokers who connected different ideological groups were more prevalent during periods of movement solidarity than schism. However, online brokers did not match on‐the‐ground brokers, with the two groups playing different activism roles, and complementing rather than mirroring each other in advancing the revolutionary movement.

Social movement scholarship on the role of coalitions in advancing social change claims that communication across ideological boundaries can foster a collective identity among diverse groups of activists. New communications technology, especially activists' widespread adoption of social media, calls into question whether these claims apply equally to online social media-based coalitions. Using the case of the Egyptian revolution in the Arab Spring, we conduct a series of social network analyses of the Twitter networks of activists. We find that social movement coalitions theory accurately predicts the conditions under which coalitions form and dissolve for online activists, as it does for on-the-ground activists. Among activists of diverse ideologies, we identify a pattern of solidarity in the early days of the revolutionary period, followed by a period of schism after a military crackdown on protestors. This research extends social movement theory to the sphere of digital activism.

On May 25, 2018, the European Union (EU) implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to protect individuals' privacy and data. This regulation has far-reaching implications as it applies to any organization that deals with data of EU residents. By studying the discussion about this regulation on Twitter, our goal is to examine public opinions and organizational public relations (PR) strategies about GDPR. The results show that the regulation is being actively discussed by a variety of stakeholders, but especially by cybersecurity and IT-related firms and consultants. At the same time, some of the stakeholders that were expected to have a more active role were less involved, including companies that store or process personal data, government and regulatory bodies, mainstream media, and academics. The results also show that the stakeholders mostly have one-way rather than two-way communication with their audiences, thus fulfilling the rhetorical than relational function of PR.