The spark of a movement - A study of an online collective acts potentiality to grow into a social movement

Sammanfattning: Social movements have become an integrated component in our western society with almost every contested issue having a social movement associated to it, on at least one side of the debate. When we think of social movements in practice, we might picture rallies and marches, chants, and demonstrations but with the emergence of social media more and more activists and movement adherents have moved to the online forums and are utilizing social medias features to quickly spread their messages and to easier mobilize. Because of its ability to attract and engage large number of people, online activisms generate a lot of attention from the media. When Sarah Everard was murder on her way home from a friend, people took to social media to express their grievances. This grew to a scale where media called the online activities a movement. But is it a movement? Using the extensive literature on social movements as a yardstick, focusing on what is considered criteria for a social movement, this study looked at the twitter content following Sarah Everards death along with some of the events that followed to see if there is something that implies that this can grow into a social movement. Results showed that key factors like collective action and collective identity are visible in the data, but it is only in limited form and in its initial stages. There is also potential for a coalition to form but there is no evidence for the initiative for one. In the end, two major factors were missing for there to be a definite movement formation: longevity and organisation, although data suggest potential for it as well. Although the data showed potential for growth, his study was done to close after the main event for the factors to solidify.