OWS Social Media Trends #nmsm
This document is a subsection of New Media and Social Movements > Occupy Wall StreetSee also:
Occupy Wall Street: Social Media Trends
Since Occupy Wall Street began in New York City on September 17, 2011, the movement has been spread to hundreds of location. Even though, OWS is primarily off-line activity, social networking sites have been crucial for linking potential supporters and sharing information. Major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Meetup, Livestream and individual websites have been actively used by the protesters. In addition to Facebook pages on the Wall Street Occupation, more than 400 unique pages have been established in order to spread the movement. These Facebook pages serve mainly to facilitate the creation of New York encampments.
Occupationalist
Occupationalist is a social media aggregator combining most recent updates from Tumblr, Twitter, Google Video, Meetup.com, and Foursquare into a single web page. The Twitter feeds are organized by hashtags specific to the movement as well as various cities.
Covering history as it unfolds. No filters. No delays.
To view, please click here: Occupationalist
| Spread of OWS on Facebook |
Facebook is the most prominent social networking site associated with the movement. According to a sociologist, Neal Caren, more than 170,000 people have posted or commented more than a one million times across more than 400 Facebook Occupy Wall Street pages.
“Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been central organizing locations for spreading information about Occupy Wall Street,” Caren said. “While the focus of Occupy Wall Street is on mobilizing individuals offline, online activities greatly facilitate these efforts. Facebook has become a recruiting tool for bringing in new supporters and getting people to events.” (1)
Occupy Wall Street Twitter usage is heavily driven by ongoing events. Twitter allows for quick updates and information sharing. Anyone who has a Twitter account can follow the main protagonists behind the OWS movement and can get fast updates where are the protests taking place as well as general updates on the movement. The trends on Twitter are heavily influenced by the ongoing events and also by the protesters' clashes with the police. Twitter is designed to share the most recent news, however, does not allow for a platform which could sustain static information.
The website cravify.com tracks most recent tweet distribution geographically. To see the visual please click here: OWS current tweets map
Tumblr
Tumblr is used to share personalized messages via digital photos in support of the movement. The posts are effective as they show a variety of people who share their sympathy with the movement openly
To view these messages, please click below:
We are the 99 percent
We are the 1 percent - We stand with 1 percentt:
Youtube
YouTube has been essential to the OWS as the movement received little national coverage until September 24, 2011 when a footage posted on YouTube of protesters being pepper sprayed by New York police officer went viral. The medium has been used widely to document protests, interviews, talks or any activity associated with OWS. Today, there are more than 30,000 videos on YouTube and the number is growing.
References and Resources
1. http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4857/107/