My slides for a panel on Hashtag Activism and Social Media, for the United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East (Ankara, 11-12 September 2019).

1. Damian Radcliffe / @damianradcliffe
September 2019
Social Media and #Activism
Implications for netizens and journalists

2. A few famous examples

4. #OscarsSoWhite

5. Benefits
• Focal point for conversation
• User generated (not by platforms)
• Translation to other languages
• Generate momentum

6. #IceBucketChallenge
ALS Association :
1. $41.8 million given by 739,000 new donors between
July 29 and August 21 2014
2. More than double the donations to the charity for
the whole of 2012.
• 17 million videos
• 440 million views
• %115 million raised
In 2016 ALS announced major
scientific breakthrough – research
funded by the challenge

8. • #MeToo hashtag used
more than 19 million
times on Twitter in first
year
15 Oct 17- 30 Sept 2018 (Pew)
• Average 55,319 uses of
hashtag per day.
• 29% not in English
• Spike around related
news stories
e.g. Time magazine named #MeToo activists
as persons of the year

9. #MeToo Brought Down 201
Powerful Men. Nearly Half of
Their Replacements Are Women.

10. Criticism
• “Slacktivism”
• Offline action still required
• Ability to affect change
• Measuring success / impact
• Not representative

11. Recent examples connected
to the Israel-Palestine conflict

12. #MyPalestinianSitty

13. #MyPalestinianSitty

14. #IStandWithIlhan

15. #WeAreIsraa

16. 5 Emerging Themes

17. 1. Misinformation / Disinformation
• Discerning fact from fiction
• Whose truth?
• What motive?

18. 2. Weaponization of Social Media
• Bots
• State Actors
• Trolls
• Hijacking debates
• Cyberhacks
• Mobilization

19. 3. Privacy concerns
• Government monitoring
• Impact on
jobs/visas/relationships
• Complaints, Censorship +
Takedowns by platforms

20. 4. Migration to closed networks
1. Seen as more private.
2. Encrypted.
Plus
• Multi-functional.
• Easy/clean design.
• Shiny new thing.

21. 5. Algorithms

22. Thanks for
listening.
Email: damianr@uoregon.edu
Twitter: @damianradcliffe
Web: www.damianradcliffe.com