The Internet as a catalyst for social movements : a simulation of social media mechanisms in the context of the arab spring and occupy movements

Abstract

Over the last few years protest movements such as the Arab Spring and Occupy, have cascaded through much of the world. All of these were regularly portrayed as 'Internet Revolutions' in the media, but among sociologists there is strong doubt about whether they actually could have been accelerated by the communicative capabilities of the Internet. In the research that will be presented Illustrative agent-based modeling shall be used to examine whether the Internet could have had anything to do with them, and if so, through what possible social mechanisms.