The Digital Evolution of Occupy Wall Street (1306.5474v1)

Abstract: We examine the temporal evolution of digital communication activity relating to the American anti-capitalist movement Occupy Wall Street. Using a high-volume sample from the microblogging site Twitter, we investigate changes in Occupy participant engagement, interests, and social connectivity over a fifteen month period starting three months prior to the movement's first protest action. The results of this analysis indicate that, on Twitter, the Occupy movement tended to elicit participation from a set of highly interconnected users with pre-existing interests in domestic politics and foreign social movements. These users, while highly vocal in the months immediately following the birth of the movement, appear to have lost interest in Occupy related communication over the remainder of the study period.

• The paper analyzes the digital evolution of Occupy Wall Street on Twitter using 15 months of data, finding initial high engagement followed by a significant decline and limited long-term network change.
• The study found a marked decline in Twitter activity related to Occupy Wall Street, with tweet volumes decreasing by over 80% after the initial peak engagement period.
• Researchers observed that Occupy Wall Street primarily engaged pre-existing, interconnected political networks but did little to sustain long-term involvement or broaden participants' social networks beyond the movement's peak.

The Digital Evolution of Occupy Wall Street: A Twitter-Based Analysis

This paper, "The Digital Evolution of Occupy Wall Street," provides a comprehensive analysis of the temporal changes in digital communication activities associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, utilizing data from Twitter over a 15-month period. This analysis focuses on evaluating the dynamics of user engagement, interests, and social connectivity during this period. Through this paper, the authors offer insights into how digital platforms, particularly social media, facilitate or hinder social movements over time, and how participants' behaviors evolve through these movements.

The research illuminates several key findings. Primarily, it examines the Occupy movement’s reliance on Twitter for communication during its peak activity periods, observed between September 2011 and September 2012. The paper identifies significant initial engagement, with traffic peaking immediately following the movement's inception. However, the authors reveal a marked decline, with tweet volumes reducing by 80.8% in the later months compared to the initial surge.

The research further dissects participant engagement, focusing on users' interests and their connectivity. A random sample of 25,000 users revealed changes in behavior at the individual level. Participants were significantly involved at the movement's start, engaging heavily with hashtags such as #ows and #occupy. However, the intensity of this engagement waned considerably over the following year. It was evident that those engaged with the Occupy movement were already part of a strongly interconnected network with pre-existing interests in domestic politics and foreign movements, although the movement did little to sustain long-term involvement or broaden participant social networks.

The paper also highlights minimal long-term behavioral changes among users, with only slight increases in domestic political communication and limited evolution in network connectivity. During the movement's peak, users showed increased in-group retweet and mention activity within the community. However, by the paper's close, these metrics had largely reverted to pre-movement levels. This suggests that Occupy primarily activated an existing community of politically engaged users without significantly altering their network structures.

In practical terms, this research provides a nuanced understanding of how digital platforms support social movements. Twitter served as a pivotal tool for immediate engagement and communication but lacked in sustaining long-term interaction and network expansion. The paper underscores the challenges faced by political movements in converting short-term digital mobilization into enduring offline action or long-standing online communities.

Theoretical implications of this work contribute to our understanding of digital communication’s role in social movements, indicating that while platforms like Twitter can amplify visibility and network existing social ties, they are less effective in fostering novel social connections or sustaining long-term interest. Future developments in AI and digital communication tools could potentially enhance engagement strategies, offering more sustained interaction and mobilization capabilities for contemporary movements.

Overall, while the Occupy movement achieved significant initial traction through digital means, its trajectory suggests that such platforms alone may not be sufficient for long-standing political engagement and transformation without complementary offline support mechanisms.