1. Building Theory from social media
environments: Case study from
Facebook
Dr. Juan D Borrero
University of Huelva, Spain
Dr. Cathy Urquhart
Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Working paper

2. What puzzles?
1. Why do individuals spend their valuable time
and effort on sharing knowledge with members
in virtual communities?
2. How the Web 2.0 could facilitate the existing
action forms making it possible to reach more
people, more easily?
3. Building theory - for analysing, explanation and
action - on social media environment.

3. Our Objective
How is social media used by potential
activists for collective action?

4. Research Questions
1. Can we consider FB activism as high-
risk activism – activism that
challenges the status quo?
2. Is FB activism strategic activism?
Whay types of activism are supported
by social media?
3. How does social media facilitates
political action?
4. How action as manifested on a
Facebook page?
5. What’s the role of mass media
communication?