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nebulous_tide's review against another edition
5.0
This book is absolutely superb. It is exceptionally detailed and well-researched, and deserves every star for effort, clarity, and navigation of the highly complex subject of social media. It is a marvel that anyone could see this clearly from within the fish bowl of our lives. Although there are moments where Tufekci’s presence at various real-world protests feels a bit horn-tooty, I ended up feeling it all adds up to help legitimise this text. And after reading this book, I appreciate legitimacy so much more!
In particular, Chapter 9 ‘Governments Strike Back’ felt chillingly well-lived in 2022. Combined with other media such as The Social Dilemma (Netflix), it is easy to see just how precarious our position is as consumers - influenced at all times by the highest bidder vying for our attention, or at least vying to keep our attention occupied by mindless things and off worthwhile topics.
In particular, Chapter 9 ‘Governments Strike Back’ felt chillingly well-lived in 2022. Combined with other media such as The Social Dilemma (Netflix), it is easy to see just how precarious our position is as consumers - influenced at all times by the highest bidder vying for our attention, or at least vying to keep our attention occupied by mindless things and off worthwhile topics.
tonyleachsf's review against another edition
2.0
The original bits (about movements needing infrastructure and decision making capacity to have impact) probably should have just been an article. And more data would have helped make it less anecdote-y.
The rest of the book’s topics - especially about tech role in protest movements, and tech’s flaws - are much better covered elsewhere.
The rest of the book’s topics - especially about tech role in protest movements, and tech’s flaws - are much better covered elsewhere.
seclement's review against another edition
4.0
This is certainly an essential reader for the modern activist. Everyone seems to have a theory about the effects of social media on society, spawning terms like slacktivism and prompting scathing critiques from just about everyone. This book puts those armchair theories to the test in a way, taking a balanced look at the good, the bad, and the uncertain impacts of the Internet and social networking sites on social movements. It combines narrative with academic discourse and theory to create a book that is broadly accessible as well as thought-provoking and fairly robust. This is a difficult balancing act that most academics can't achieve, but Tufekci does it quite well, with a few exceptions (e.g. using academic terminology that doesn't really add to the argument but creates a clunky narrative or overusing the word 'networked' to the point that it loses meaning). Though the book has some holes in it from a research perspective, to my mind it's one of those books that highlights how much more you can achieve with a book than with academic articles. Dipping into narrative and out into the literature and back again is one of the great things about this book, with the author combining her own personal tales with stories from other social movements she has studied as well as the literature to explore the many sides of this issue.
I learned a lot from this book as well, particularly about how the policies of various social networking sites advantage certain groups and disadvantage others. I found her discussion about the tendency to measure success via protest numbers and the need to use additional metrics quite important and relevant, especially in the context of her discussion of how social media can bring out big numbers of protestors but faces challenges in building long term capacity and effective social movements that change policy. What we get from protests, the social caché of posting pictures of ourselves at protests, and the change that can be achieved via protest don't always align. Yet at the same time Tufekci critiques these challenges of creating sustainable and effective social movements, this is not a book that is anti-social media by any stretch. She emphasises the good, including the radically different types of people that can find common ground, and emboldening people in countries where they previously would have suffered in isolation.
I 'read' this book via Audible, and I wouldn't actually recommend that medium. It's one of those books that you will want to underline in and remember quotes, so I think it's better to pick up the ebook or a hard copy.
I learned a lot from this book as well, particularly about how the policies of various social networking sites advantage certain groups and disadvantage others. I found her discussion about the tendency to measure success via protest numbers and the need to use additional metrics quite important and relevant, especially in the context of her discussion of how social media can bring out big numbers of protestors but faces challenges in building long term capacity and effective social movements that change policy. What we get from protests, the social caché of posting pictures of ourselves at protests, and the change that can be achieved via protest don't always align. Yet at the same time Tufekci critiques these challenges of creating sustainable and effective social movements, this is not a book that is anti-social media by any stretch. She emphasises the good, including the radically different types of people that can find common ground, and emboldening people in countries where they previously would have suffered in isolation.
I 'read' this book via Audible, and I wouldn't actually recommend that medium. It's one of those books that you will want to underline in and remember quotes, so I think it's better to pick up the ebook or a hard copy.
bristlecone's review against another edition
4.0
An excellent and enlightening read about social media and its role in social movements
linda_s's review
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Great insight into the events of the Arab Spring as they relate to social media. Thorough analysis of how mass movements and social media and the government backlash have evolved.
drillvoice's review against another edition
3.0
Very interesting book. Some chapters have really neat, useful ideas, like the idea of 'signalling' and 'capabilities'. Tufekci does a good job of explaining all the basics of these new technologies which is nice for the newbie reader but for me felt like a bit of a waste - possibly the book doesn't need this as much is 2021. And it felt like some chapters really didn't pull much weight.
bluestarfish's review against another edition
4.0
"Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral" -Melvin Kranzberg (1986)
The second part of that quote is fascinating, and what this book explores as it examines how social media technology in particular has fed into the "how" of the organisation of protests. It isn't "just" technology but rather the interaction of people and the tools around and available to them. Of course it's not just people as individuals using these tools but groups, organisations, and nation states for all sorts of reasons. The first part of the book looks at the making of a movement, the second part more closely at the tools available, and the third about after the protests.
Social media is really very young but it has had prominence in some of the recent globally noticed protests and this book takes us to some of them and has interesting things to say about the use of twitter among the tear gas. The book has a very apt subtitle and Zeynep Tufecki shows examples of both the power and the fragility of the networks we have come to rely on.
The second part of that quote is fascinating, and what this book explores as it examines how social media technology in particular has fed into the "how" of the organisation of protests. It isn't "just" technology but rather the interaction of people and the tools around and available to them. Of course it's not just people as individuals using these tools but groups, organisations, and nation states for all sorts of reasons. The first part of the book looks at the making of a movement, the second part more closely at the tools available, and the third about after the protests.
Social media is really very young but it has had prominence in some of the recent globally noticed protests and this book takes us to some of them and has interesting things to say about the use of twitter among the tear gas. The book has a very apt subtitle and Zeynep Tufecki shows examples of both the power and the fragility of the networks we have come to rely on.