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Reforming and Re-tweeting:

Social Movements, Social Media, and Social Capital

George Ford
University of Oregon
Sociology 447
Fall 2015

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Abstract: This essay builds off of the surrounding literature of social media and social movements as
well as Bordieu's theories of social capital. It seeks to find which movements the use of social media is
most and least useful for. Two activists from different social movements were interviewed, and their
responses indicated that social media was highly useful in reaching out to networks of supporters but
that it was generally not useful in connecting activists to legal or political specialists who could help
them in achieving the reform-based goals which many movements have.

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Reforming and Re-tweeting:
Social Movements, Social Media, and Social Capital
Between the years of 2010 and 2012 a mass of protests swept across the globe. In Tunisia,
Egypt, and much of the Arab world, individuals gathered in mass to express their social and political
discontents. These revolutionary protests were huge in terms of how they challenged existing political,
economic, and social inequalities but many academics and bloggers have been focused on another
thing; that this was the first time people had seriously organized on a mass scale while using social
media as a primary form of communication. Would this mean all social movements begin to have an
increased success or was the use of Twitter just coincidental here?
Social Movements are large, complex collectives, and often hard to define, but a comparative
study finds they have three primary characteristics: networks of relations between a plurality of
actors collective identity, and conflictual issues. (Diani 1992). The rise of cell-phones and
internet have likely done little to directly affect conflictual issues or the formation of collective identity,
yet it is undeniable that the rise of internet and the entrance of most of the world into the so-called
digital age have increased the capacity of individuals to connect. The question we must ask then is not
whether social media is good or bad for social movements, but rather to which movements the greatly
increased networking capabilities are useful to and how.

Literature Review
Social Media; Reform or Revolution?
Overall researchers have found that social media greatly strengthens social movements. Two of
the movements using social media on a large scale which sociologists have had much time to study are
the Arab Spring Movement and the Occupy Wallstreet Movement. Nathan Jurgenson, who studies both
of these movements argues that in attempting to understand the relation of social media to activism it

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is crucial to move beyond the digital dualism and instead come to understand the many interactions
and exchanges which take place between digital and physical spaces.(2012) He finds that the
widespread use of phones and internet have allowed activists to create meaningful networks which
have led to increased revolutionary action abroad, both on and offline. Another study found social
media to be useful in informal learning on the Occupy Wallstreet Movement (Gleason 2013), and
another large qualitative study on the Arab Spring Movement found that social media helped to build
and strengthen ties among activists, and increased interaction among protesters and between
protesters and the rest of thee world. ( Eltantawy and Wiest 2011). While Jergunsen just referred to
revolutions in general, all are favorable of social media in how it allowed activists to make make
connections which are crucial to revolutionary change.
While the above research has shown that social media is of great use to revolutionary
movements, it says very little about the effects of social media on reformist goals of social movements.
David Alberle used reform and revolution as two competing ends of the same axis upon which social
movements could be placed. (1966). Radical goals involve mobilizing the masses and are usually
related to revolutionary movements which seek to overthrow or otherwise super-cede current political
structures in society. Reformist goals on the other hand involve more specific political change. Usually
in the form of a policy or court ruling, reform involves a deep level of engagement between activists
and traditional legal avenues whereas movements with radical goals usually do not.
Social movements can be simultaneously revolutionary and reformist as they seek popular
appeal and government action, however this doesnt mean that technological changes leading to
revolution will result in reform. One scholar argues that As they movements became increasingly
preoccupied with the process of mobilization, students of social movements strayed far from their
intellectual roots in the sociological tradition (Walder 2009) When he is referring to their intellectual
roots Walder of course is speaking to the long history of successful activism in the U.S. which almost

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always has involved some type of leagl-political praxis, at least coming after movements begin to
mobilize. From abolitionism and the womens suffrage movement up to civil rights and the recent gay
rights movement, it is undeniable that reform has been a powerful and meaningful tool for resolving, or
at least reducing the magnitude of, societal issues.

Research Question 1: Beyond mobilizing masses, is social Media Useful for achieving the
reformist goals of social movements?

Mobilization and Resource exchange

Studies of social movements most often focus on the ability of movements and specific
organizations to acquire and mobilize resources for the purpose of achieving their goals. Resource
mobilization theory came about in the 70s (McCarthy and Zald 1977), and has continued to develop
much since then. The proper acquisition and employment of financial resources, strong leaders, and
political connections have long been considered essential to movements and continue to this day to be
one the main sociological explanation for why social movements do and do not meet their goals. While
resource mobilization has been very useful in the past, there is reason to believe it needs to be reevaluated with the introduction of social media. Social media can allow users to access resource
quicker, and in places where they never could before.
The spread of the internet has led to an increasingly immaterial world, and for this reason a
theory that is able to analyze the immaterial resources of social movements is needed. Drawing off of
Bordieus theory of capital exchange (1986), and Granoveteers landmark theory on The Strenth of
Weak Ties (1973), Vitak and Ellison conducted a study of how individuals use Facebook. They found
that it social media is most useful in creating weak or bridging ties between individuals. For Bordieu
these ties would accumulate in what he calls social capital;the power of networks which is often

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transferrable with economic or cultural capital. While Vitak and Ellison researched how social media
affected the social capital of individuals, we might assume that social capital is also useful for activists
because it allows activists to draw off of a greater body of resources.
While Vitak and Ellison do a great job of applying Bordieus theory of social capital to the rise
of social media, they do almost no analysis on the transfers of capital which were so essential to
Bordieu in the first place. For Bordieu, societies elite maintain power through their transfers of
monetary capital into cultural and social forms. By spending their wealth on education, commodities of
high culture, and social connections, the bourgeoise is able to conceal much of their accumulated
resources and ultimately avoid the criticism and reaction that would likely ensue.(Bordieu 2011) Social
media increases the ability of most to increase their social capital with less initial resources than ever
before, but how far does that social capital go for social movements?

Resource Question 2: What are the extents and limits to what social capital acquired through
social media can accomplish?

Current Difficulties in Reformist Politics

With the increasing tendency of activists to use social media for spreading their messages, its
easy to question whether or not they are still doing all the things that made activism work in the first
place. We can argue that they will simply choose not to engage in the necessary embodied parts of of
activism (Gladwell 2010), however protesters continuing to put their lives on the line against an
increasingly militarized policy should make us quickly realize this is not the case. One of the primary
criticisms of why current movements and why they fail is that they get too caught in the job of activism
and lose sight of their primary goals. Naomi Klein argues that this is one of the current problems within
the environmental movement as organizations have acquiesced to the drives of market fundamentalism

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and reverted to practices which sustain their presence but do not meet the institutional challenges
associated with global climate change (2014). Many other movements have faced similar problems
with what is often referred to as the non-profit industrial complex in which activist-workers often
abandon more serious goals in the name of continued funding. (Incite! 2007; Nicholls 2013).
While social media improves the possibility for revolutionary networks to arise, the legal and
political challenges most social movements face still seem in many ways insurmountable due to the
inherent challenges of existing in a corporatized world while trying to challenge it. In this way, social
media has proven useful for accomplishing the radical goals of social movements, but not the more
pragmatic goals advocated by reformists. While it doesnt seem quite yet necessary to abandon
reformist goals entirely, social media may have some very real implications on which type of
movements are most successful in the future.

Methods
For this study I conducted two separate interviews over Facebook in which each of the activists
interviewed was given a list of questions to respond to with no designated time limit. The questions
first attempted to identify the goals of social movements and to locate respondents positions within
them. Next the questions began to focus more on the movements relationship to resources and their
use of them to achieve movement goals. While only conducting two interviews has given me relatively
little information to work with, I think it will be useful for in-depth comparison on which my analysis
will focus. The first interview is with Delaney, the media director for 350 Eugene who primarily runs
the groups twitter page. The Second interview is with Aujalee, a native women living in Eugene who
meets with various groups to discuss the problems Native Americans in the U.S. face as well as their
potential solutions.
For the interviews first contact was made on Facebook but the interviews themselves were

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conducted via email. The interviews were conducted in this way for a number of reasons. First, given
the time-constraint of the interviews it was easiest to ensure that they would actually occur. Given the
very busy schedule of both activists and social researchers the task of scheduling and executing
interviews in person can be very difficult, and Facebook seemed like an easy way to overcome this.
Second, Facebook actually operated as a crucial networking tool in connecting to activists; while it can
sometimes be difficult to locate an activist willing to talk about their role in a social movement,
Facebook allowed me to go directly to the page of social movement organizations where I could easily
talk with. Third, since the nature of this paper demands interviews with activists who use social media
regularly, seeing their work on Facebook ensured that interviews were conducted with people who had
substantial experience with social media.
There are reasons both why a digital interview may or may not be preferable to in-person
interviews. While conducting interviews over email is a great way to give participants a sense of
comfort and security that might be lacking in other settings, it may not lead to the deep level of
personal interaction and connectedness that is often associated with deep emotional responses to
questions. (Pascoe 2012). Ultimately it is hard to determine whether or not an in-person interview
would elicit better or worse responses, and for this reason digital interviews were chosen for their
logistical advantages.

Analysis
Two Types of Movements
With the first few questions in the interview, the two ways in which the activists described their
goals were rather different. While the activist from 350, Delaney, Described the goal of her
environmental movement to be doing whatever it takes to protect the living systems of this planet today and for future generations., the second activist, Aujalee had a rather different explanation of her

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goals. She claimed that The goals of my movement are simple: bring attention to native issues and
hopefully gain allies in the process. The goals obviously different in that one is focused on
overcoming the ongoing violence committed to native americans while the other is focused on
protecting the environment, but a more subtle difference also emerges in these responses.
While Aujalee seemed to show that native activists were primarily concerned with bringing
attention to the their social problems, Delaneys responseprotection of the environment is less clear.
Raising awareness may be part of this generally vague response, but a look to 350s webpage, is rather
explicit in framing their goals; Keep carbon in the ground, Help build a new, more equitable lowcarbon economy, and Pressure governments into limiting emissions (350.org). The difference in
responses points to a major difference in the two movements. The Native American movement is
primarily concerned with raising awareness and garnering popular support, meanwhile the modern
environmental movement is much more concerned with the immediate tasks of ending oil drilling and
pressuring the government to take action. This points to a major qualitative difference in the
movements with the former being a more radical movement and the latter being more reformist.
This contrast is likely the result of the environmental movement being much larger and well
developed than Native American movements in the united states. The Environmental Movement has
been growing rapidly and has remained in the eye of the public ever since its rise in the 70s,
meanwhile movements for Native Americans are often entirely invisible to the public and often only
gets publicity when there is major events or when activists become part of other movements. Oddly
enough, this contrast has been brought into blaring light as tribal members are having their voices heard
more than ever as a result of their involvement in protests such as The peoples Climate March in New
York.
When asked if and and how the goals of social media differ from the goals in general, there was
also a divergence in responses. Delaney explained that The social media goals complement the goals

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of the movement. meanwhile Aujalee argued that the goals on social media differ in the way they are
implemented but don't necessarily differ thematically. This shows that for groups who are mainly
seeking social visibility, Facebook is in many ways an easier form of achieving goals already planned
out whereas the environmental movement must acknowledge that social media is only useful in
achieving some of their goals, but not all their current ones.
Resources and Resource Exchange
While it is extremely important to understand the differences between the movements we are
discussing, their relation to economic and social capital is what this paper really seeks to understand.
First I asked the activists about their networks prior-to and outside of social media and how that has
affected their social media use. In this case both activists expressed that networks outside of social
media were ultimately useful in both maintaining these connections, and in creating new online
connections. In describing her experience Aujalee expressed that By being involved in social media,
we are able to engage each other with our ideas and work together to garner support for Native people
living in the U.S. The size of my support group is definitely bigger due to social media, but I think the
size of my project is also increased by participating. This seems to display how social media can be
useful in not just the bridging connections that Vitak and Ellisson found to proliferate with social
networking site, but also the bonding connections which they found to be less affected by social
media.
Next I wanted to see if social media was useful in attracting leaders and specialists; connections
which could be characterized as social capital and are particularly useful to developed social
movements.. In this case both interviewees found that Facebook connected them to some important
individuals, yet in neither response was their evidence that these connections did anything particularly
useful for the group beyond increasing interest in and support for their group. Both interviews
described how their use of social media has connected them to other activists, and seem to share

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Aujalees perspective that no contact is more important than another. Activism is about reaching a
critical mass, it is often about quantity. Here there seem to be some really serious limits drawn
surrounding the extent to which the social capital accrued through social media can be useful.
Connections made through social media may be abundant, however they are often times just
connections; another advocate of your cause without any corresponding political/legal praxis upon
which to actualize change in society.
In addition to social capital, I wanted to see how social media is useful in applying or acquiring
economic capital. When asked about what role financial resources have in the digitalization of their
cause, the sentiment of Delaney seemed to be shared; that absolutely facebook often functions as a
cheaper alternative to newspapers, fliers, etc. that have been used by movements in the past to spread
their messages. Aujalee adds thatIn terms of economy, time, and energy social media activism is
better., while she is hesitant about the effectiveness of such practice do to its lack of embodied
interactions, she definitely finds it useful for activists who are lacking the time, energy, and money to
do some of the harder work of activism. Neither showed strong evidence of social media increasing
their access to economic capital
Finally, neither interviewee felt that social media seriously traded off with physical activism.
Despite this the framing of Delaneys answer was quite telling. She argued that Todays savvier group
will have a dedicated media team even if that team is just one person. While the group is actively
engaged during events, the media team takes action online. This shows how organizationally groups
must split up those engaged in media activity and those doing the other work of activists.
All this is leading to a different understanding of social media use that isnt about whether or not
activists use it, but rather how, when and to what extent. While social media seems to be extremely
useful in spreading information, garnering support, and mobilizing populations, it seems to have its
limits in its inability to lead to the type of connections (social capital) that certain movements need to

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achieve their reformist goals. While there is no reason to conclude a direct trade-off between online and
offline activism, it is clear that the limited time and energy of hard-working activists may demand they
individually focus on one over the other.

Discussion
This study looks at activists' responses to questions regarding their use of social media related to
social movements and gives special attention to how media is and isn't useful in acquiring various types
of resources. The responses of the two activists who were interviewed indicate that they had rather
different aims given their role within two different social movements; Aujalee's goals within the
American Native Movement show she was more interested in mobilizing populations while Delaney's
goals were the type that could only be achieved through government policy.
Following the contrast of the responses, we can return to Walder's criticism; that activists have
been giving special attention to mobilization in the past decade (2009), and see that both activists agree
social media is an easier, cheaper way to accomplish many things activists were looking to achieve in
the first place. This helps explain the widespread use of social media and it's use in recent movements
even if it says little about the benefits described by recent literature on social media and revolutionary
aciton. (Eltantawy and Wiest 2011; Gleason 2013; Jurgasen 2012)
Social media proves to be a useful tool for networking and acquiring social capital (Bordieu
1986) as both activists reported making many bridging connections (Vitak and Ellison 2012) which
they felt have been helping them spread information and mobilize society for their cause. Returning to
my first research question, we find that social media proves useful for mobilizing populations. For
more movements with revolutionary aim, social media may always be useful in this way, however there
was no indication that either activist reported any increased reformation activity as a result of their

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digital social networking. For the question of where social capital accrued through social media finds
it's limits, we were shown in that neither of the activists reported connecting to any strong leaders or
specialists who were able to give significant financial or legal help to their cause. This is likely because
social capital requires bonding connections whereas social media only offers bridging connections.
(Vitak and Ellison 2012). While this study is far from conclusive, the implications may be huge for
activists considering if, and to what extent they should be attempting to actualize change through social
media.
While this study was very small, the results are fairly indicative of how social media is and is
not useful for activists. While I often contrasted the two activists as having reformist or radical
goals and was able to explain this as a result of the differences between their movements, there
response may be largely a result of the fact that one of them was in an official position within a social
movement organization while the other was only loosely connected to several different organizations.
This displays how social movements have many different actors and organization within them, and that
each must figure out how to allocate their resources within the movement. In truth there is no singular
focus of any social movement and the loose collection of activists who I have grouped into what I call
The Environmental Movement, and The American Native's Movement may each have different ideas
on whether focusing on reform or revolution is more important.
This study perhaps should serve as a precursor to a larger, more comprehensive study of a single
movement, or even social movement organization, which will allow us to investigate more accurately
how and to what extent social media has played a role in it. This study would also allow for a more
proper defining and understanding of what activists in a movement wish to achieve and also which
specific resources they likely need to achieve those goals. Politics are mostly dominated by economic
capital at this point and the problems with current movements definitely indicate this has complicated
the task of activists.

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Overall this study contributes to many other studies which have found that social media is
indeed useful for mobilizing masses by increasing the ease with which modern activists can acquire the
social capital necessary to form protests and maintain a large, dispersed network of supporters.
Additionally, this study offers a brief look into the question of how social media may or may not
benefit activists seeking reformist solutions to societies problem. While the results here indicate that
social media may not be particularly useful for reform, broader research is needed.

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