Twitter Mobilization: The Cases of Nicaragua and Ukraine

• In Event: How Information Technology Affects Protests around the Globe

Abstract

Social media has become a significant part of human lives since its initial introduction. While the literature on social media mobilization acknowledges widely the positive relationship between social media platforms and social movement participation, the specific question of how movements promote themselves or how civil groups call for increased awareness deserves more scholarly attention. Focusing on the distinctive cases of Pico Rojo in Nicaragua and the early periods of the Russian-Ukrainian war, I argue that popular Twitter hashtags pertaining to arts and the entertainment world could perform the extraordinary function of increasing the visibility of political movements and opinions. The discrepancy between what the hashtags are supposed to represent and the actual contents attached to the hashtags makes an intriguing phenomenon of intended misdirection for political purposes.

Author

• Mai Frndjibachian, University of Florida