Social media and EuroMaidan: A review essay

Abstract

We provide a comprehensive summary of what is known to date about the usage of social media during the EuroMaidan protests. We ground this assessment in existing social science theoretical work related to the phenomenon of political protest, suggesting three important mechanisms by which social media could impact protest participation and development: by providing tools for organizing protests; by facilitating the spread of information related to protests; and by building networks that could sustain the protest movement. We then explore the evidence to date in each of these areas. Based on this assessment, we close by proposing a forward looking research agenda that will speak to better understanding of the role of social media in the EuroMaidan protests specifically, the role of social media in protests movements more generally, and how to harness the unique opportunities presented by the fact that much of social media usage is digitally archived and therefore available for scholarly analysis.