The paper 'Mediated grassroots collective action: negotiating barriers of digital activism' explains how so far social media have been seen as essential instruments of collective action. Moreover, social media have been praised for their potential to empower individuals to act as civic agents. In this research, the tension between expectations created by public discourse and citizens’ own involvement with digital activism is investigated.
By examining three regional Canadian cases, this research discusses the significant barriers mobilizers experience and finds that many of the obstacles organizers face point to an enduring need for a well-organized, tech-savvy, collaborative network as an organizing body to reflectively handle the challenges posed by digital grassroots civic mobilization.
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