Zeynep Tufekci, Ph.D. @techsoc www.technosociology.org NAFAC April 12th, 2011

Social Media, Social Change and Causal Mechanisms Faster is Different Social Media, Social Change and Causal Mechanisms

What Does Social Media Change? Network effects Shape/structure of the network Speed of transmission Field effects Reshaping/recreating a public sphere Revealing hidden preferences

Does social media give us the same results, just faster? Or, does it qualitatively change the dynamics?

Social media alters the shape of the network Existing: One-to-Many (Broadcast) Powerful to the powerless One-to-one/few (Face-to-face, telephone, etc.) Peer-to-peer Addition: Many-to-many

One-to-Many Network (Broadcast)

One-to-Many Network (Broadcast)

First Target in a Coup!

One-to-One

Many-to-Many Networks

Lessons from Epidemiology Speed of Transmission Speed of Recovery Shape of Network Hubs and connectivity increases contagion These factors determine whether a quarantine will work

Altered Dynamics State is a resource-constrained actor Autocracies often have evolved to play “whack-a-protest” Social media, by allowing mass coordination and rapid information diffusion, complicates “whack-a-protest”

Example: Tunisia Gafsa: 2008. Sidi Bouzid: 2010 Mining town, protests over corrupt hiring Isolated, crushed (quarantined) 28,000 Facebook users in Tunisia Sidi Bouzid: 2010 Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation Protests spread (viral) Almost 2,000,000 Facebook users in Tunisia

Thank you! Zeynep Tufekci zeynep@umbc.edu @techsoc www.technosociology.org