Open AccessWill the Revolution be Tweeted or Facebooked? Using Digital Communication Tools in Immigrant Activism
Author(s) -
Harlow Summer,
Guo Lei
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of computer‐mediated communication
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.15
H-Index - 119
ISSN - 1083-6101
DOI - 10.1111/jcc4.12062
Subject(s) - immigration , spark (programming language) , political science , focus group , social media , digital media , social activism , focus (optics) , media studies , gender studies , sociology , politics , computer science , law , physics , optics , anthropology , programming language
Considering the debate over U.S. immigration reform and the way digital communication technologies increasingly are being used to spark protests, this qualitative study examines focus group discourse of immigration activists to explore how digital media are transforming the definitions of “activism” and “activist.” Analysis suggests technologies are perhaps pacifying would‐be activists, convincing them they are contributing more than they actually are. Thus, “slacktivism,” or “clicktivism” that takes just a mouse click is potentially diluting “real” activism .