Context, Frame, Opportunity, and Resource

Abstract

Social media have become an important tool in our interactions and networks. Studies around social movements focused on these platforms' potential for becoming a new public sphere given their nature and features. However, an address of their influence on social engagement can't overshadow they're used by social actors themselves as part of a greater social frame. In this light, a qualitative characterization of Facebook's role on Portuguese anti austerity social movements “Geracao a Rasca” and “Que se lixe a troika!” is presented through discourse analysis of the testimony of several of their founding members. While it may be unquestionable Facebook had an important role in these movements, it wasn't the only tool used or the most relevant: face-to-face and direct mobile phone interaction were essential tools for this end, along with traditional media whose gaze the movements capitalized on for reach. Thus, the question in this chapter is whether these technologies represent a new way for us to communicate, or constitute an additional forum for that end?