Social media fueled protests

http://dmlcentral.net/blog/zeynep-tufekci/networked-politics-tahrir-taksim-there-social-media-fueled-protest-style

"There are also other interesting political commonalities to these movements, including their use of durable presence in public space as a form of protest, anti-authoritarianism as a uniting ideology, an '“anti-politica'” stance among participants, the participation and key role played by 'lumpen' elements such as soccer fans, the importance of anger towards cronyism, police repression as a spark and uniting theme, to name a few. Hence, this post is an attempt to take a bite out of a complex topic with a special focus on social-media and organizational styles of networked movements:"

And here are her 8 points:

1. lack of organized/institutional leadership
2. organized around a "no" not a "go"
3. a feeling of lack of institutional outlet
4. non-activist participation
5. external attention
6. social media as structuring the narrative
7. breaking of pluralistic ignorance and altering collective action dynamics
8. not easily steerable towards complex, strategic political action

A good read.