MOBILIZING FRIENDS AND STRANGERS

Abstract

What role does the Internet play in mobilizing participants in days of action? Although most research has focused on the way that computer-mediated communication is changing transnational collective action, it is unclear how social movement reliance on this new form of communication is modifying protest within nation-states. This paper analyses how participants in a national day of action in the United States were mobilized, focusing on the role that the Internet played. We find that a very high percentage of participants in all cities heard about the day of action through e-mail lists or websites. Those who mobilized through the Internet, however, were very different from those who mobilized through personal and organizational ties. In particular, the participants who heard about the event through all channels of mediated communication – including the Internet – were much more likely to come to the event alone than those who heard about it through their social networks. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of our findings to collective action and civic participation in the digital age.

Keywords:

• social protest
• mobilization
• day of action
• social networks

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Michael Heaney for comments on an earlier draft of this paper. We would also like to thank (in alphabetical order): Michael Heaney, Lorien Jasny, Paul-Brian McInerney, Fabio Rojas, and Chris Sullivan for their help in data collection.