In Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, sociologist Zeynep Tufekci examines the intricate relationship between social media and social movements. This timely book provides important insights into how modern protest unfolds with the rise of networked technologies.

The book in three sentences:

• The book examines how social media has changed the dynamics of protest movements, enabling rapid mobilization but also increasing surveillance and fragmentation.
• Author Zeynep Tufekci draws on firsthand research of movements worldwide to show how digital tools have both empowering and challenging aspects for activism.
• Tufekci argues that combining decentralized social media networks with formal organizations and long-term strategies is key to sustaining modern protest movements.

Extended Summary

Tufekci explores the empowering yet challenging role of social media in protest movements. While social media helps facilitate large decentralized movements, it also aids state surveillance and makes sustained mobilization difficult. She calls for utilizing technology’s strengths while being aware of its trade-offs.

Tufekci explores the empowering yet challenging role of social media in protest movements. While social media helps facilitate large decentralized movements, it also aids state surveillance and makes sustained mobilization difficult. She calls for utilizing technology’s strengths while being aware of its trade-offs.

Drawing on her firsthand research of protests around the world, Tufekci finds that the open nature of social media gives rise to different protest styles and dynamics compared to earlier eras. Movements can quickly coordinate large public protests with viral calls to action. However, she argues this “tactical freeze” focus on protests over strategy risks short-lived movements.

The book contrasts the strengths and weaknesses of networked protests with the more hierarchical, strategic movements of earlier eras that often gained more lasting power. Tufekci calls for combining the strengths of high-capacity decentralized networks with more organizing and long-term strategy.

Case studies range from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street to the Gezi Park protests in Turkey. She argues that while social media was not the primary cause of these movements, it fundamentally shaped their dynamics in both positive and negative ways. It enabled reaching a critical mass rapidly but also increased surveillance risks and short attention spans.

Who Should Read This Book

Activists, organizers, and anyone interested in modern social movements will gain key insights from this book. It provides a thoughtful analysis of leveraging technology for protest while avoiding common pitfalls.

Key Points

• Modern protests unfold differently owing to the affordances and constraints of social media.
• Decentralized movements can mobilize rapidly but risk being short-lived and unfocused.
• While useful for organizing, social media also aids state surveillance and distraction.
• Combining mass protest with long-term strategies and organizations is key for sustaining movements.

About the Author

Zeynep Tufekci is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina who studies the social impacts of technology. She has attended protests worldwide to research how movements unfold in the digital age. She writes regularly for The Atlantic and The New York Times.

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