How Talk and Ties on Social Media Mobilizes a Social Movement

This study examines the role of social network users in mobilizing a social movement. We apply a mixed-methods approach to understand how social media content and network structure influence reach and activity during social movements. The results suggest that the core users have higher activity and reach than peripheral users before protest, whereas peripheral users have higher activity and reach than core during and after protest. Furthermore, the reach and activity of personal action frames are higher than collective action frames before protest, and of collective action frames are higher during and after protest. The reach and activity of diagnostic frames are more before protest, and of prognostic and motivational frames are higher during and after protest. Our findings have implications for social media-enabled social movements literature. Social movement organizers may find insights to help them organize and mobilize online movements