Predictive Technology in Social Media

CHAPTER 7 Social Media as a Framework for Predicting and Controlling Social Protest in the 21st Century

Santiago Giraldo-Luque

Autonomous University of Barcelona, Carrer de la Vinya, Faculty of Communication, Campus UAB, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain)

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Introduction

Since the characterisation of the internet and social media networks as scenarios of open and democratic participation (McLuhan 1969, Wiener 1969, Bennett and Segerberg 2012, Castells 2012), their study as catalysts of social mobilisation has been a recurrent one. The motivation for the numerous studies, which appeared mainly in the second decade of the 21st century, was generated above all by the emotional impulse of the Arab Spring. Ten years ...