DOI: 10.5176/2382-5650_CCS13.23
Authors: Celia Lam
Abstract:
In the wake of the Arab Spring in 2010 and the successful Obama election campaign of 2008, the importance of social media in the communication processes surrounding protest movements and political strategies became highlighted. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube became platforms through which individual citizens shared political messages and organized collective action in the Middle East, while similar platforms were used by political organisations in the US to reach sections of society overlooked by mainstream campaign strategies. Studies of the use of social media have focused on the impact social media has on the democratic divide, its relevance as a means to encourage increased political activity, and its effectiveness as a tool for the organization and mobilization of collective action. Many of these studies examined cross sections of society to provide insight into how social media affected the actions and attitudes of the community at large. This paper supplements these studies by examining in detail the use of one form of social media, Facebook, by a concentrated sample of university students during an intense period of protest in Hong Kong. It describes how Facebook served the dual role of social interaction and communication tool, and protest platform during the 2012 Anti-National Curriculum debate in Hong Kong, and highlights both positive and negative aspects to protests in online platforms.
Keywords: Protests, Social Media, Facebook, Collective action, National Curriculum
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