Social Movements and Social Media : the case of the Armenian 'velvet' revolution

Depending on the political environment, economic, cultural and social factors, the digital era provides new opportunities and constraints for mobilization of social movements.The current research was focused on exploring how protest leaders and activists used and perceived social media as a tool for communication and organization during the movement “take a step, #RejectSerzh”; a series of peaceful, anti-governmental protests which led to a shift of governmental power in Armenia. Prior work dedicated to unpacking the relationship between social movements and social media have focused on a few empirical cases. Hence, a case study of a yet underexplored social movement can add to this strand of literature. The methodological approach displayed in this study follows a mixed-method model. Interviews with activists of the movement “take a step, #RejectSerzh” and content analysis of official social media accounts of leaders of the movement “take a step, #RejectSerzh” were expected to provide a diverse perspective on social media tactics during the movement. The results implied that social media were perceived as one of the main contributors to the fulfilment of objectives of the movement “take a step, #RejectSerzh” in multiple ways: social media allowed for fast communication, decentralized organization, testimony of the non-violent nature of the movement, as well as validation of the movement through transparency of action (most importantly, in real-time). There was a strong indication that live video broadcasting function on Facebook was generally perceived as a tool with more capacities for contentious politics. Meanwhile, the results suggest that the movement “take a step, #RejectSerzh” could be perceived as a continuity of previous social movements, the negative experience gained from which curbed the overall tactics of the movement, rather than a result of immediate grievances. Nonetheless, the role of human emotions, such as fear, hope and will, was at the centre of interpretations of how the activists experienced the movement