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Zeynep Tufekci, Ph.D. @techsoc technosociology

Zeynep Tufekci, Ph.D. @techsoc www.technosociology.org. Personal Democracy Forum NYC 2011 “Agents of Change”. The power of strong ties, the power of weak ties. Understanding Social Media & Social Change. Challenges to Collective Action under Autocracies. Information diffusion

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Zeynep Tufekci, Ph.D. @techsoc technosociology

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  1. Zeynep Tufekci, Ph.D.@techsocwww.technosociology.org Personal Democracy Forum NYC 2011 “Agents of Change”

  2. The power of strong ties, the power of weak ties Understanding Social Media & Social Change

  3. Challenges to Collective Action under Autocracies • Information diffusion • “Hidden Preferences” -what do others think? • Synchronization • Shaping the public sphere • Organizing mass / political action • Publicity / visibility / solidarity

  4. So What Does Social Media Add to Dissent under Autocracies? • Nothing? • Same thing, maybe faster? • Negative because of surveillance / censorship?

  5. Social Media Alters: • Ability to connect • Shape of the Network • Speed of Information Diffusion

  6. One-to-Many Network (Broadcast)

  7. First Target in a Coup!

  8. First Target in a Coup!

  9. Demonstrators, too!

  10. “The whole world is watching”

  11. Thus… • Reshaping the public(s) • Changing the mood

  12. Lessons from Epidemiology • Shape of network + speed of transmission Key to success of quarantines • Autocracies play “whack-a-protest” • Isolate/Supress/Crush/Censor/Wait • Worked for decades!

  13. Many-to-Many Networks

  14. Altered Dynamics • State is a resource-constrained actor • Social media, by allowing mass coordination and rapid information diffusion, complicates “whack-a-protest” • Attention economy is key to politics – speed of information diffusion matters!

  15. Example: Tunisia • Gafsa: 2008. • Mining town, protests over corrupt hiring • Isolated, crushed (quarantined) • 28,000 Facebook users in Tunisia • Sidi Bouzid: 2010 • Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation • Protests spread (viral) • Almost 2,000,000 Facebook users in Tunisia

  16. The Tunisian Blogosphere(by: Dominique Lahaix ecairn) Perso with some politics Marketing/pub Personal Diaries Aggregators

  17. The US lifestyle Blogosphere

  18. The Claim: Social Media Unsuitable for Dissent • Social Media only about weak ties • Protest only moves through strong ties • Weak ties don’t matter to success of protest

  19. In Reality • Social media ties include both weak and strong ones • Tie strength is dynamic! • Weak ties create publics! • Bridge ties (which can be weak ties) crucial for avoiding censorship and isolation

  20. New Ties; New Connectivity

  21. Online to Offline – finding friends, finding politics

  22. Agents of Change • Tools *do* matter because they alter: • Shape of networks – many-to-many • Possibility for/speed of information diffusion • Creation of counterpublic(s) • Fighting with camels in the Internet age • But tools do not create the courage and dignity we are witnessing

  23. Thank you! Zeynep Tufekci zeynep@umbc.edu @techsoc www.technosociology.org

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