This study investigates whether social media campaigns can recruit new activists or transform public attitudes. Using a randomized field experiment in Bulgaria via Facebook and email newsletter,
Data & Methods
* Collaborated with an environmental campaign.
* Compared outcomes across different intervention groups (Facebook vs. Email).
Key Findings
* Campaigns effectively recruit individuals already predisposed to activism or highly educated.
* Characteristics and prior engagement predict participation more than the campaign itself alters opinions or knowledge.
* No substantial evidence suggests campaigns significantly change broader public perspectives on civic society's effectiveness, environmental issues, or self-reported behavior.
The study concludes that common social media campaigns primarily serve an organizational function by selecting specific individuals rather than achieving widespread transformative effects.
| Does Social Media Promote Civic Activism? A Field Experiment with a Civic Campaign was authored by Florian Foos, Lyubomir Kostadinov, Nikolay Marinov and Frank Schimmelfennig. It was published by Cambridge in PSR&M in 2021. |
