Social Relationships and Political Movements

Information and Communications Technology ( ICT )

It includes tools used to create, share, and exchange information, such smartphones, the Internet, and social media. These tools help maintain social relationships. connections among people, across physical distances.

Collective Action

It means people working together toward a common goal.

Political Movement

It pursues shared goals involving public decisions, policies, or power.

Marginalized Groups

ICT helps people with similar concerns spread information and organize activities. It can also give these groups more opportunities to voice concerns and connect with wider audiences.

Social Movement Organization ( SMO )

An organized group that works toward a shared social or political cause.

Internet-based Movement

A movement that depends heavily on online communication to spread its message and mobilize supporters.

E-movement

• A movement that originates online and develops through digital networks.

• Networks

Collaborative Innovation Network ( COIN )

A highly motivated group with a shared vision that uses the web to exchange ideas and work quickly toward a common goal.

Traditional Movements

Hierarchy.

Arab Spring

It was a wave of protests and uprisings that began in Tunisia across several Arab countries.

Tunisia

It was where the Arab Spring began.

Mohamed Bouazizi

The protest of Tunisian street vendor helped spark wider public anger over economic hardship and abuses of power.

Digital Activism / ICT in Protests

The use of digital tools like Facebook, Twitter, SMS, blogs, and online videos to circulate news, connect activists, encourage participation, and spread inspiration across different countries during anti-corruption, anti-unemployment, and pro-democracy movements.

State Repression via ICT

The counter-use of digital communication and media by authoritarian governments—such as state media monitoring in Bahrain—to identify, track, and suppress protesters.

Digital Communication

It did not guarantee democratic change or personal safety.

Occupy Wall Street

It began in New York City in 2011 and protested economic inequality and concentrated financial power.

Twitter

It helped participants exchange updates, discuss police actions, and connect across locations.

Collective Framing

It is the development of a shared understanding, language, purpose, and identity around a public issue.

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State ( IS )

They used online communication for propaganda, recruitment, intimidation, and coordination.

Cyber Terrorism

It has no universally accepted definition. In a narrow sense, it involves cyberattacks or threats intended to intimidate people purposes, causing or threatening serious harm or disruption. Potential targets include energy, transport, financial, and government systems.

Internet

It allows SMOs to reach mainstream media or communicate directly with the public. Websites and social platforms provide low-cost ways to announce activities, explain demands, correct misconceptions, and respond to criticism.

Media Coverage

It can amplify a movement's concems and attract wider support. A maintained website can help present its goals consistently, but appearance alone does not establish credibility.

Faster and Wider Communication

An opportunity provided by digital communication that connects people quickly across great distances.

Shared Interests

A connection point that helps people find supporters and form online networks.

Flexible Participation

A feature of digital networks that allows members to contribute in various ways.

Wider Access to Public Discussion

An opportunity where digital platforms can help previously excluded voices be heard in public discourse.

Action Gap ( Widely Shared Message Need )

A limitation noting that a widely shared message still requires people who are actually willing to take real-world action.

Confirmation Bias / Echo Chambers

A tendency where people may mainly seek out information that reinforces their existing beliefs.

Weak Relationships

A limitation where minimal personal interaction can make long-term commitment difficult to sustain among online participants.

Digital Divide

The constraint that participation still depends heavily on having access to devices, internet connectivity, and digital skills.

Shared Goals and Sustained Relationships

It helps turn online connections into organized action.

Decentralized Movements

It can coordinate effectively through communication and cooperation even without one central leader.