Social Movement and Core-Peripheral Network Mobilization

This study examines the role of social network users in mobilizing a social movement. Particularly, we consider the role of core and peripheral users in diffusing the social movement messages. We use the case of Women’s March and conduct a qualitative content analysis of the related Twitter postings to identify the message categories. We identify the core and peripheral users using the K-Core decomposition technique. We then analyze the effect of the core and peripheral users in diffusing different types of messages. The findings have implications for social media and social movement literature. Social movement organizers may find insights useful to help them organize and mobilize an online movement. This study lays the foundation upon which the relation between network content and structure can be further explored