Social Movements 2.0; summary and links

I’ve been spending time mulling over the intersection of offline and online when it comes to social movements. Here are a few of my favourite online references to the online perspective.

Vanessa Mason explains how social media is changing the way we think about social movements. She suggests we are moving away from the emerge->coalesce->bureaucratise->outcome->decline process. She lists and describes some defining characteristics of social media’s effect on social movements:
1. linkages between offline and online activity are essential
2. technology facilitates change by reducing costs of resource mobilisations
3. supporters have the ability to tell and publicise their cause’s stories, needs and goals
4. social media enables greater transparency into the political process
read more about this view here: http://vanessamason.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/social-movements-20/

After a brief description of the world’s first virtual strike in 2007, “The Nation” provides a detailed view on what Social Movements 2.0 is about. They refer to Clay Shirky’s brilliant book “Here comes everybody; the power of organising without organisations” and explain the five reasons why electronic social space is revolutionising the concept of social movements.
1. group formation
2. scale and amplification
3. interactivity
4. destruction of hierarchies
5. cheapness and ease of tools
To read more about this go to http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090202/smith_costello_brecher


For examples of social movements on the web and an interesting perspective on a new role – the social internepreneur, then read Alberto Masetti-Zannini’s post http://blog.vita.it/theunreasonables/2008/08/05/the-rise-of-the-social-internepreneur/



Add a comment here if you know of other key Social Movements 2.0 resources, post and links.