Abstract

The role of organisations in social networks has been traditionally identified as a decisive factor in inspiring and motivating political action, from de Tocqueville (1840/1969) to the ‘resource mobilization’ approach (Edwards and McCarthy 2004; della Porta and Diani 2009). In these accounts, organisations as leaders, and organisational involvement in itself, provide opportunities for joint accomplishments by aggregating and articulating collective demands. More recently, social media use has consistently raised questions about the possibility to bypass organisations in the processes of involving like-minded people and translating shared identities, emotions, and motivations into collective action offline. The potential for social media in political mobilization has consequently received scholarly attention, especially after the Arab Spring uprisings in 2010 and the following worldwide wave of protest (Earl and Kimport 2011).