Characterizing Multimedia Adoption and its Role on Mobilization in Social Movements

Abstract

This research investigates the vital role of multimedia (images and videos) serve in fostering connective action in contemporary social movements, particularly focusing on the recent political protests in Brazil and Peru between November 2022 and February 2023. Utilizing a dual approach grounded in Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory and an analysis of mobilization processes through social networks. This study explores the varying levels of multimedia adoption throughout different social movements phases. The analysis, based on an extensive dataset with 664,865 tweets, 76,867 images, 51,913 videos and 1,256,884 retweets (images and videos) revealed distinct patterns of multimedia usage across DOI stages of the social movements. Notably, the Brazil anti-government social movement showed a preference for images initially, shifting to video usage during significant events, whereas the Brazil pro-government social movement predominantly utilized images. In Peru, the anti-government social movement's media preferences fluctuated between DOI stages.