COLLECTIVE ACTION FRAMING IN SOCIAL MOVEMENT GROUPS ON FACEBOOK

Abstract

Social networking sites have been a popular platform for collective action communities to engage in the facilitation of collective movements online. In these processes, collective action frames have come to be regarded as a key lens to understanding the effectiveness and impact of collective social movements. This paper examines the collective action framing literature for understanding social movements, and reviews how these frames are conceptualized and used in existing movements. Through a content analysis, this research seeks to generalize, compare, and differentiate how organizers and participants of different cultures utilise collective action frames differently in groups and in hashtags. Based on the findings, it provides directions for future research and contributes to the intersection of social movement, collective action frames, and global culture, showing how actors of a collective action movement may strategically engage in various frames to most effectively progress the movement. Besides theoretical implications, this helps organizers and participants of social communities to understand how to successfully engage in framing strategies to drive a successful collective action movement.