Table Of ContentWhen young Greeks meet social media: protesting in the online arena
Vasileios Morikis
ANR:895531
Master’s Thesis
Communication and Information Sciences
Business Communication & Digital Media
Faculty of Humanities
Tilburg University
Thesis Committee:
Stefania Milan
Suleman Shahid
November 2014
Abstract
With people increasingly utilizing social media for interpersonal communication, protest
practices have also shifted from real-life settings to virtual environments. This study explores the
relationship between social media and protest practices, by examining young Greek people (aged
between 15 and 35 years). The main research question (RQ) was formulated to identify the way
in which young Greek people have changed their protest practices as a result of social media.
Four further sub-questions were also created to understand: (a) what social networks young
Greek people (Greeks) use; (b) what is the aim of social media protesting; (c) what are the
dangers/fears when protesting in social media; and, finally (d) what is the relation between real-
life protesting and social media protesting. An online survey was designed to determine how
social media related to protest practices, specifically this survey aimed to consider three different
age groups. The results indicated that young Greeks were generally entwined in some way with
social media, as far as their protest practices were concerned. Furthermore, the teenagers seemed
to be the most skeptical with regard to whether social media could in fact be utilized in such a
way as to contribute to a protest.
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Table of Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... i
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................ ii
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................. iv
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... v
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background of the Study............................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Research Aim and Objectives ....................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Research Questions ....................................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Research Hypothesis ..................................................................................................................... 5
1.5 Significance of the Study .............................................................................................................. 5
1.6 Thesis Overview ........................................................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 7
2.1 Introduction to the Chapter ........................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Overview of Social Media Networking and Social Movements ................................................... 7
2.3 Social Movements and Protesting Using Social Networks ........................................................... 9
2.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media Protesting ....................................................... 12
2.5 Differences and Similarities Between Real-Life and Social Media Protesting .......................... 14
2.6 Social Media Protesting – A Case from Greece.......................................................................... 16
2.7 Conclusion to the Chapter ........................................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................................ 19
3.1 Introduction to the Chapter ......................................................................................................... 19
3.2 Research Methodology ............................................................................................................... 19
3.2.1 Research Design .................................................................................................................. 19
3.2.2 Data Collection ................................................................................................................... 19
3.2.3 Data Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 24
3.3 Conclusion to the Chapter ........................................................................................................... 24
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................... 25
4.1 Introduction to the Chapter ......................................................................................................... 25
4.2 Data Analysis and Results........................................................................................................... 25
4.2.1 Sample Overview ................................................................................................................ 25
4.2.2 Protest Practices Change ..................................................................................................... 26
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4.2.3 Social Media Networks for Protest ..................................................................................... 28
4.2.4 Aim of Social Media Protesting .......................................................................................... 29
4.2.5 Dangers While Protesting in Social Media ......................................................................... 30
4.2.6 Relations Between Real-Life and Social Media Protesting ................................................ 31
4.3 Discussion of the Research Objectives and Results .................................................................... 34
4.4 Discussion on Research Hypothesis ........................................................................................... 38
4.5 Conclusion to the Chapter ........................................................................................................... 39
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................... 40
5.1 Introduction to the Chapter ......................................................................................................... 40
5.2 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................... 40
5.3 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research ............................................................ 43
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 45
APPENDIX - ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRE .......................................................................................... 50
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List of Figures
Figure 1.1: Greece youth unemployment rate (Trading Economics, 2014) .................................................. 6
Figure 3.1: Ranking with most popular fan pages in Greece ..................................................................... 22
Figure 3.2: Geographical distribution of online clicks ............................................................................... 24
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List of Tables
Table 4.1: Respondents that have protested through social media before .................................................. 27
Table 4.2: Connection between social media protesting and age ............................................................... 27
Table 4.3: Real-life protesting frequency over the last two years among the three age groups .................. 27
Table 4.4: Real-life protesting connection with age ................................................................................... 28
Table 4.5: Social media that young Greeks use .......................................................................................... 28
Table 4.6: Social media that young Greeks use in order to protest ............................................................. 29
Table 4.7: Social Media aim: Express solidarity Likert tabulation ............................................................. 29
Table 4.8: Social media aim: Express opinion Likert tabulation ................................................................ 30
Table 4.9: Slacktivism as a social media protesting danger among the respondents .................................. 31
Table 4.10: Online surveillance as a social media protesting danger among the respondents.................... 31
Table 4.11: Relation between street and social media protesting ever ....................................................... 33
Table 4.12: Kruskal Wallis relation between real-life and social media protesting (ever) ......................... 33
Table 4.13: Relation between street and social media protesting last two years ........................................ 33
Table 4.14: Kruskal Wallis Relation between real-life and social media protesting (last two years) ......... 34
Table 4.15: Sacrifice real-life protesting in order to protest in social media .............................................. 34
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The development of digital technology, i.e. Web 2.0, has changed the way in which the world is
connected together (Beer & Burrows, 2007). Not only for businesses but also increasingly
among the general population and more significantly among the younger generations across the
world. Most importantly, the development of social media networks (as a related technology
dependent on Web 2.0) has changed the perceptions and behaviors of people, particularly the
younger generations and their subsequent social movements (Cogburn & Espinoza-Vasquez,
2011). The young people of today can participate more in democratic events through social
media, as this provides a relatively new platform whereby people can focus much more easily on
various issues, such as: austerity measures, intrusion of the state into people’s lives,
environmental protection, women’s liberation and gay or lesbian rights. As a result, it appears as
though social movements are linked with social media as social media has changed the way in
which activists can actually perform their protest practices; consequently, it is now very easy for
protesters to contribute to several protest movements, irrespective of time or location constraints
(Click & Petit, 2010).
Clearly, social media has changed the way in which social movements and protesting activities
can now be enacted. As Gerbaudo (2012) stated: “social media can be seen as the contemporary
equivalent of what the newspaper, the poster, the leaflet or direct mail were for the labour
movement” (p.4). Similarly, Milan (2013) examined the way that protest practices have been
influenced by developments in Web 2.0 technologies, as more and more protesters are shifting
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their protest activities to the “cloud”, the “cloud” is representative of a virtual/imaginary space
that can be identified by social media and people’s practices in online networking platforms.
Moreover, Milan (2013) further argued that the decentralized, collective nature of social media
platforms also attracts people who have no access to express their views in other arenas.
Protesting behaviors over social media are becoming a common practice among the younger
generations. Examples of recent social media protesting movements include: the Arab Spring and
the Spanish Indignados. The Arab Spring uprisings involved a series of anti-government protests
in the Middle East, they started in 2010 in Tunisia but managed to affect regimes in several other
Arab countries, including Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Morocco and Jordan (Manfreda,
2011). The activists utilized social media, including Facebook and Twitter, to communicate and
increase awareness of their protests that were against the way in which the state was attempting
repression and Internet censorship (Tusa, 2013). One of the reasons why the Arab Spring was so
successful was because of the way it utilized Web 2.0 and social media technologies to fuel
protests. It is important to note that during the 2000s, the ICT sector (including social media)
increased significantly in Egypt, and the total number of Facebook users from the Arabian
nations surpassed 27.7 million over that decade (Abdulla, 2007; Huang, 2011). The Spanish
Indignados is another example of a social media protest; specifically, the protesters demanded
radical changes to Spanish politics. These protest movements became known as the 15-M as a
series of ongoing demonstrations started in Spain on May 15, 2011 (Bryne, 2011). Central to
these protests was social media, with Facebook and Twitter being widely used by the young and
old to campaign across the popularized social media. Much was written about these movements
by the worldwide media, including the “Real Democracy Now” and “Youth Without a Future”
(BBC News, 2011; 2012).
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These two examples clearly illustrate how social media is now being deployed as an effective
tool for protest movements. Furthermore, such increasing use of social media, in this way, is
capturing the attention of researchers, encouraging them to identify what role social media plays
in protest movements, such as whether its use could increase the protest’s success.
This research will therefore consider the importance of social media in protesting practices in
Greece. Specifically, the study aims to understand the notion and perception of the young Greek
people (Greeks) with regard to their use of social media for protests. Greece was selected
because of its lengthy/historical culture of protest within the country (Papas, 2014; Andronikidou
& Kovras, 2012). Andronikidou & Kovras (2012) noted that the Greek culture is a “deep-rooted
culture of resistance”, as various milestone protest periods can be identified including the civil
war from 1946 to 1949 and the anti-junta uprisings of 1974.
1.2 Research Aim and Objectives
The aim of this study is to identify the way in which social media has changed protesting
practices, especially among the young people in Greece, aged between 15 and 35. In order to
analyze the results, respondents were divided into three sub-age groups: Teenagers (aged
between 15 and 19), young adults (aged between 20 and 25) and adults (aged between 26 and 35).
It is important to note that the pivotal research aims not to compare the different age groups but,
instead, to shed any light on how the different age groups react to social media diffusion.
Specifically, the research objectives of this study aim:
i. To examine the social media networks usually used by young Greeks for protesting.
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ii. To identify the aims of social media protesting, e.g. awareness-raising, mobilization,
offline action.
iii. To be aware of the opinion of young Greeks regarding the drawbacks associated with
protesting through social media?
iv. To analyze the similarities and differences between real-life protesting and social media
protesting, based on the perception of young Greeks.
1.3 Research Questions
The key research question that this study aims to answer is:
Main Research Question: How are young (15-35) Greeks’ protest practices changing due to
social media?
The given question is further divided into the following sub-questions:
Sub-Question 1: What social media networks do young Greeks use for protesting?
Sub-Question 2: What is the aim of social media protesting (e.g., awareness-
raising; mobilization; offline action)?
Sub-Question 3: According to young Greeks’ opinions, what are the drawbacks of
protesting in social media?
Sub-Question 4: What are the differences and similarities between real-life
protesting and social media protesting, according to young Greeks?
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Description:in which young Greek people have changed their protest practices as a The results indicated that young Greeks were generally entwined in some
