The Spanish “Indignados” Movement: Time Dynamics, Geographical Distribution, and Recruitment Mechanisms

Abstract

Online social networks have an enormous impact on opinions and cultural trends. Also, these platforms have been revealed as a fundamental organizing mechanism in country-wide social movements. Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa (the wave of protests in the Arab world), across Europe (in the form of anti-cuts demonstrations or riots) and in the United States have generated much discussion on how digital media is connected to the diffusion of protests. In this chapter, we investigate, from a complex network perspective, the mechanisms driving the emergence, development and stabilization of the “Indignados” movement in Spain, analyzing data from the period between April 25 and May 26, 2011. Using 70 keywords related to the movement, we analyze 581,749 Twitter messages coming from 87,569 users. The online trace of the 15M protests provides a unique opportunity to tackle central issues in the social network literature like recruitment patterns or information cascades. These findings shed light on the connection between online networks and social movements and offer an empirical test to elusive sociological questions about collective action.

Appendix: Protests Organizers

The “Indignados” movement is a civic initiative with no party or union affiliation that emerged as a reaction to perceived political alienation and to demand better channels for democratic representation. The first mass demonstration, held on Sunday, May 15, was conceived as a protest against bipartidism and the management of the economy in the aftermath of the financial crisis. It was organized by the digitally coordinated platform “Democracia Real Ya” (“Real Democracy Now”), born online about 3 months before the first day of demonstrations. Hundreds of entities joined the platform, from small local associations to territorial delegations of larger groups like ATTAC (an international anti-globalization organization) or “Ecologistas en Acción” (“Ecologists in Action”). Signatories of the original call included student associations, bloggers, defenders of human rights and people from the arts, but also hundreds of individual citizens of different ages and ideologies. Under the motto “toma la calle” (“take the streets”), the movement organized peaceful protests that brought tens of thousands of people to the streets of more than 50 cities all over the country, with Madrid and Barcelona leading in numbers.