Prof. Libby Hemphill
IIT Lewis College of Human Sciences
@libbyh
Prof. Edward Lee
IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
@edleeprof
Using social media to mobilize people, whether for a product campaign or a political protest, is no easy task. This presentation will highlight some of the challenges organizers and entities face when trying to mobilize and sustain a campaign through social media. It is based on our empirical analysis of the ongoing efforts of political activists to engage the public about the NSA surveillance controversy by use of Twitter.
48. most retweeted: June 5
@YourAnonNews:
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61. challenges
• sustaining or reviving activity over time
– event hashtags die off
• motivating participants
– political protests leverage principle
• overcoming aversion to commercial
campaigns
– authenticity
TOTAL: 2,072,870 tweets
Average: 35,133
Standard deviation: 13,400
Protest day 2.8x as many tweets
Protest day
* N: 98,515
* original tweets N: 48,374 (49%)
* RTs N: 50,141 (51%)
TPMUInc: 177 * account deleted
FreeEdSnowden: 149
4yourfreedom: 134
SteveNixonIP: 126
Ladacyn: 121
GalouGentil: 120
Steve Nixon and Galou Gentil are individual activists.
TOTAL: 2,072,870 tweets
Average: 35,133
Standard deviation: 13,400
Protest day 2.8x as many tweets
Protest day
* N: 98,515
* original tweets N: 48,374 (49%)
* RTs N: 50,141 (51%)
TOTAL: 1,916,122 tweets
Average: 31,412
Standard deviation: 12,251
Protest day 2.5x as many tweets
Protest day
* N: 78,307
* original tweets N: 44,430 (57%)
* RTs N: 33,877 (43%)
@YourAnonNews 469 retweets on the day of
@FightfortheFtr 442 retweets on the day of
13,599 retweets during June/July
5387 retweets during June/July, account now suspended
4564 retweets during June/July
TOTAL: 1,916,122 tweets
Average: 31,412
Standard deviation: 12,251
Protest day 2.5x as many tweets
Protest day
* N: 78,307
* original tweets N: 44,430 (57%)
* RTs N: 33,877 (43%)
Protest organizers reached out to Twitter after seeing @policy tweet. @Twitter tweet reached 840x as many followers (28M vs 34K).