Activism in digital social networks: forms of participation in collective actions in cyberspace

Abstract

The relational potential of social networks has increasingly been used in social mobilizations and collective actions. This utilization is related to digital activism, since it allows social actors to have an active role in these actions. This work aims to try to understand the type of participants of these collective actions in cyberspace, from the identification and the categorization of the diverse motivations that lead them to take part on these actions. The considerations are made based on the case study, from mapping the network and making interviews through e-mail, of an specific action: a Google bomb against Veja magazine, a mobilization done since February 2008 and that counted with the participation of many bloggers in a singular way of protest in cyberspace.