Activism, Campaigning and Political Discourse on Twitter

Social media has increasingly become a strong factor that shapes how we communicate about social and political ideas. And it has been argued that Twitter and other social media platforms empower voices that were previously marginalized, hold governments accountable and provides opportunities for individuals to network and campaign to achieve social and political reforms. In this collection of chapters, authors from different academic disciplines, coming from different social and political backgrounds and experiences have explored the increasing transformative potentials of Twitter for group advocacy. The chapters further illustrate how Twitter serves as a forum for spreading awareness and information on social events, as well as for social activism and political discourse. Some of the topics explored include: Understanding the potential of Twitter for political activism; Digital Trump and conflict: A multi-method analysis; The use of Twitter as complementary press on the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370; Constructing transnational identity through Twitter activism: A discourse study of #FGM; LGBT social media activism in India; Online activism in Mali: a study of digital discourses of the Movement for the Liberation of Azawad; Sousveilance Twitter: activists' pro-democracy governance from below in Middle East; Twitter's ethics of freedom in the aftermath of November 2015 Paris attacks through the lens of the anonymous collective, etc. This collection of chapters written by experts, and budding academics from different disciplines, will be an invaluable handbook and serves as resource materials for students, scholars and practitioners of Communication, Political Science and International Relations, Law, Linguistics, Journalism and Media Studies.