People are the Message? Social Mobilization and Social Media in Brazil

Authors

  • Gustavo Cardoso ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute
  • Tiago Lapa ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute
  • Branco Di Fátima ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute

Keywords:

Brazil, social media, social movements, networked communication

Abstract

In June 2013, protesters took to the streets of hundreds of Brazilian cities. The mobilizing factor was the rising fares of public transportation, which precipitated a wave of discontentment characterized by a mix of demands for better public services and changes in the discredited democratic institutions. This article discusses the role of social media in the protests and how such use configures a paradigmatic example of how communication occurs in network societies. To frame the discussion, we examine social media appropriation for the purposes of political participation through a survey applied online in 17 countries and an in-depth analysis of protests in Brazil. Looking at the Brazilian protests, the ways in which the appropriation of social media occurred and institutional responses to demonstrations developed, we argue that in the network society, the people, and no longer the media, are the message.

Author Biographies

Gustavo Cardoso, ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute

Gustavo Cardoso is an associate researcher at CIES and Cathedratic Professor of Technology and Society at ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute. He also works with the Department of Communications and Performance Studies of the University of Milan and with the Portuguese Catholic University. His international cooperation in European research networks brought him to work with IN3 (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute) in Barcelona, WIP (World Internet Project) at USC Annenberg, COST A20 "The Impact of the Internet in Mass Media" and COST 298 "Broadband Society". Between 1996 and 2006 he was adviser on Information Society and telecommunications policies to the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic and In 2008 was chosen by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. He is co-editor, with Manuel Castells, of the book Network Society: from Knowledge to Policy and Associate Editor at the peer-reviewed journals IJOC at USC Annenberg and IC&S at Routledge. He is a member of the evaluation panels of the European Research Council (ERC).

Tiago Lapa, ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute

Tiago Lapa is an invited assistant professor at the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL). He holds a PhD in Sociology from the same institution and an Mphil from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is also a researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-ISCTE) and at the Portuguese Observatory of Communication (OberCom).

Branco Di Fátima, ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute

Branco Di Fátima is a Brazilian journalist, writer and researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES). Currently, he is doing a PhD in Communication Sciences at ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute. Among his best-known books are ‘Ruas vazias de gente’ (2007) and ‘Outros olhares: debates contemporâneos’ (2008). In the last decade, he has won over a dozen national and international literary prizes. In Portugal, he worked as a foreign correspondent for a number of communication vehicles.

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Published

2016-08-12

Issue

Vol. 10 (2016)

Section

Articles

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