Beyond Slacktivism: Unraveling the Power of Peripheral Mobilization through Social Media Talk and Ties

Building on theories of social movements and social networks, this study examines how participants at the core and periphery of a network mobilize a social movement across different temporal stages. We explore the mobilization potential of participants in terms of their network activity – the number of messages sent by core or peripheral participants – and network reach – the number of potential users a participant can expose to messages through their connections. We use the case of the 2017 Women’s March and adopt a computational theory construction (CTC) approach to identify the emergent patterns in network activity and network reach of core and peripheral participants before, during, and after the protest. Our results challenge the notion of “slacktivism” associated with peripheral participants and suggest that peripherals make meaningful contributions to social movements by generating and exposing distinct meanings and keeping the movement momentum alive, especially when core participation wanes. Based on empirical results and theoretical assumptions, we formulate a set of propositions to explain the dynamics of peripheral mobilization. In doing so, this study contributes to the digital activism literature that has thus far undermined the mobilization potential of peripheral participants. At the practical level, the findings might help organizers strategize framing appropriate movement messages and activating the critical periphery to increase the audience of their messages. Finally, our research approach might interest other scholars within the CTC paradigm.