Social media alters dissent under autocracies by changing how people connect and share information. It allows for many-to-many networks that complicate governments' efforts to isolate and suppress protests. While in the past governments could isolate small protests, social media enables mass coordination and rapid sharing that helps spread protests more widely. This is seen in the 2010-2011 Tunisian protests, where social media use grew alongside real-world demonstrations until the government fell. Social media creates new publics and ties that bridge social circles, undermining claims that weak ties don't aid protest success.

1. Zeynep Tufekci, Ph.D. @techsoc www.technosociology.org Personal Democracy Forum NYC 2011 “ Agents of Change”

2. The power of strong ties, the power of weak ties Understanding Social Media & Social Change

3. Challenges to Collective Action under Autocracies Information diffusion “ Hidden Preferences” -what do others think? Synchronization Shaping the public sphere Organizing mass / political action Publicity / visibility / solidarity

4. So What Does Social Media Add to Dissent under Autocracies? Nothing? Same thing, maybe faster? Negative because of surveillance / censorship?

5. Social Media Alters: Ability to connect Shape of the Network Speed of Information Diffusion

6. One-to-Many Network (Broadcast)

7. First Target in a Coup!

8. First Target in a Coup!

9. Demonstrators, too!

10. “ The whole world is watching”

12. Thus… Reshaping the public(s) Changing the mood

13. Lessons from Epidemiology Shape of network + speed of transmission Key to success of quarantines Autocracies play “whack-a-protest” Isolate/Supress/Crush/Censor/Wait Worked for decades!

16. Many-to-Many Networks

17. Altered Dynamics State is a resource-constrained actor Social media, by allowing mass coordination and rapid information diffusion, complicates “whack-a-protest” Attention e conomy is key to politics – speed of information diffusion matters !

18. Example: Tunisia Gafsa: 2008. 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

19. The Tunisian Blogosphere (by: Dominique Lahaix ecairn) Aggregators Marketing/pub Personal Diaries Perso with some politics

20. The US lifestyle Blogosphere

21. The Claim: Social Media Unsuitable for Dissent Social Media only about weak ties Protest only moves through strong ties Weak ties don’t matter to success of protest

22. In Reality Social media ties include both weak and strong ones Tie strength is dynamic! Weak ties create publics! Bridge ties (which can be weak ties) crucial for avoiding censorship and isolation

23. New Ties; New Connectivity

25. Online to Offline – finding friends, finding politics

26. Agents of Change Tools *do* matter because they alter: Shape of networks – many-to-many Possibility for /speed of information diffusion Creation of counterpublic(s) Fighting with camels in the Internet age But tools do not create the courage and dignity we are witnessing

27. Thank you! Zeynep Tufekci [email_address] @techsoc www.technosociology.org