How effective is online collective action?

There is an implicit premise in debates about digital politics: greater visibility on social networks necessarily equates to a greater capacity for mobilization. However, from the discussion in the seminar and the analysis of Margetts et al. (Margetts, Hale, & John, 2015), it is possible to point out that online collective action, despite having the same logic as classic collective action, fails quickly and only a few manage to consolidate.

While digital platforms transform the conditions of participation by making it faster, more visible and less dependent, individuals continue to evaluate costs and benefits before participating. But on the other hand, this ease can make collective action more unstable: the collective energy can be more readily available, but at the same time could more often be on the verge of evaporating, leading us to a system with an oversaturation of stimuli.

Thus, the reduction of communication and participation barriers not only expands the possibilities of political coordination but also increases the information noise that surrounds collective action. Connective action is especially relevant at this point, as it explains that a large part of digital participation adopts personalized, symbolic and decentralized forms, sustained by acts of personal expression and sharing, rather than by stable organizational commitment. Consequently, the digital presence of a movement cannot automatically be assumed as evidence of social roots. So, this phenomenon is not accidental, but a result of the structure of the digital environment.

From this perspective, one central problem of digital politics is the difficulty in distinguishing between genuine support, algorithmic amplification and strategic manipulation. Echo chambers, the selective visibility of platforms and the various forms of information disorder, including misinformation, disinformation and misinformation, (Claire Wardle, 2017) complicate the interpretation of the vox populi.

Furthermore, in a context with AI tools, the digital ecosystem becomes even more volatile. So, digital politics is not only a space for expanded mobilization, but an environment where the informational conditions of genuinely democratic collective action can be seriously affected.

References:

Claire Wardle, H. D. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making.

Margetts, H., Hale, S., & John, P. (2015). Political turbulence: how social media shape collective action. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.