1

Social Media and the

Environmental Movement
Substituting the Monkey Wrench for the Keyboard













By
Mark McCormick BSc

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Abstract
The aim of this research paper was to explore the effectiveness and influence, or
otherwise, that social media has had on activism and in particular that of the
environmental movement.
A qualitative research method was used as it was felt that, in order to truly
understand the impact social media has had on the environmental movement, in-
depth discussion with practitioners and activists through the use of semi-structured
interviews would be the most productive method.
A literature review looked at the power and growth of social media, how it is used by
activists in campaigning and targeting corporations and focussed on the use of social
media within different strands of the environmental movement.
Following the collection of data, the analysis and discussion of the results the
research concludes that social media has changed, and is still changing, the way in
which the environmental movement is carrying out campaigns, actions and activism.
The result demonstrated that social media in isolation was not effective but when
combined with offline traditional tactics it could then be highly effective and that
within the environmental movement the more radical and activist based you are the
easier it is to utilise social media.



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CONTENTS

Page No.
Abstract 2

Acknowledgements 5


Chapter One: Introduction
Introduction 6
Overview 8

Chapter Two: Literature Review
The Power and Growth of Social Media 9
Online War Corporations vs. Activists 12
Social Media and the Environmental Movement 17

Chapter Three: Research Methodology
Methodology 22
Construction of Semi Structured Interviews 29

Chapter Four: Results and Analysis
Question 1 32
Question 2 39
Question 3 41
Question 4 46
Question 5 48
Question 6 52
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Analysis of Results 56

Chapter Five: Discussion
Discussion 63

Chapter Six: Conclusion
Conclusion 75
Limitations and Future Research 76

Appendices
Appendix 1: Invitation Letters to Participants 78
Appendix 2: Participant Informed Consent Form 81
References 83






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Acknowledgements
I wish to thank my research supervisor Mr Andrew Purcell for his guidance, support
and for ensuring my peace of mind for the completion of this thesis.

Also not forgetting the staff of the Political Lobbying and Public Affairs MSc for
their teaching and knowledge. This was an encouraging and gratifying learning
experience that strongly contributed to the writing of this thesis.

I would like to acknowledge the support and interest shown by my colleagues and
close friends who shared their thoughts and encouragement throughout the
completion of this thesis. Also I have to thank all my fellow students for their
friendship and support.

Finally, I would like to thank my family for everything their reassurance, support
and love which I couldnt have done without.




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Chapter 1:
1.1 Introduction
... A rapid evolution in media is taking place. Through the choices, made by
millions every second of each day, to share and curate content, individuals
the world over are engaging with each other on a scale unimaginable to most
people just a decade ago. Previous modes of media allowed for the
transmission of information, filling a human desire for knowledge, but could
not cater for the human impulse to interact. This is changing...
(Wilson, 2012, Foreword XI)

The above quote refers to, of course, the growth and power of social media in
society today which Howell (2012, p4) has described as changing the way we, the
people, are communicating and the way we are connecting, collaborating and
building relationships. Hands (2011, p18) believes that the changes to society as a
result of the digital, networked age... Lends itself to a horizon of dissent, resistance
and rebellion, and is referring to the use of social media as a tactic and tool for
campaigning, as summed up in the title of his book - @ is for Activism.

The aim of this research paper is to explore the effectiveness and influence, or
otherwise, that social media has had on activism and in particular that of the
environmental movement. The reason for focussing on the environmental movement
is because according to (Donk et al, 2004, p15) the environmental movement is more
prone to and sophisticated in using digital technologies due to the global scale of the
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problems they are interested in, such as global warming and climate change, which
demands more cross-national cooperation.
Therefore, it was the researchers hypothesis that in order to truly explore the use of
social media as a campaigning tool, amongst activist and campaign organisations,
that the environmental movement would generate the most compelling case study on
which to base the research study.
The objectives of the study can be summarised as follows:
1. To undertake a literature review on the strength and growth of social media,
the use of social media as a lobbying tool and social media use within
different strands of the environmental movement.

2. To compare and contrast the effectiveness of online activism compared to
offline direct action / demonstrations / protests.

3. Explore the impact that social media has had on the traditional mass media
and whether or not this has altered dependence on traditional mass media
within the environmental movement.

4. Carry out semi structured interviews with practitioners from the
environmental movement to discuss their experience of social media as well
as any perceived benefits or otherwise for campaigning and lobbying.


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1.2 Overview

Chapter two is the literature review in relation to the strength and growth of social
media, the use of social media as a lobbying tool and social media use within
different strands of the environmental movement. The research gained from the
literature review was the basis for drafting and developing the interview questions
shown in chapter three.

Chapter three describes the methodology used for the research. This includes the
rationale for the research process, the reasons for utilising semi-structured
interviews, the design of the questions, the methods employed to elicit the responses
from potential research participants, and the analysis and demonstration of the data
produced.

Chapter four demonstrates the findings of the research interviews with participants
and provides an analysis of the responses.

Chapter five is a discussion on the researchers interpretation of the results,
comparing and contrasting different participants views as well as contrasting these
views with that of the literature review.

Chapter Six is the concluding chapter which provides a summary of the key findings
and what can be concluded from these findings. The chapter also includes a section
stating the limitations of the research and a section which suggests areas for future
research.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1: The Power and Growth of Social Media
The meteoric rise of social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, and
YouTube changed the communications landscape for ever.
(Howell, 2012, p3)
Social media is revolutionising the way we communicate and share
information. It allows for file sharing, blogging and instant messaging or
chat and often incorporates other platforms such as those that publish
videos. Social media is not just highly popular in terms of the number of
users that they have and there is a very high level of engagement with the
sites. This is one of many reasons why social media has become of such
interest to corporations, marketers and lobbyists.
(Brown, 2009, p50)
In the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Social Media Handbook for PR
Professional Howell (2012, p3-4) describes the sheer scale and power that social
media has gained throughout the world. Howell describes how, more than 70% of
the internet population uses social networks in one form or another and the numbers
are growing daily. Howell describes just how huge this is by stating that, one in 9
people on earth have Facebook, and if it was a country, it would be the third largest
after China and India, (Howell, 2012, p4).
So it is clear that social media has become a huge element in every day life of many
people and Howell (2012, p4) also highlights how this spans across a number of
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different demographics and age groups. The sheer number of people using social
networks and the time spent online using them leads to a gigantic amount of
information being created and circulated across the globe. Kumar and Mohd (2012,
p2038) would share similar views stating that, Social Media has opened a new
chapter in human beings freedom of speech and action in which people now freely
collaborate, share videos, photos, news, reviews, opinions and stories using this
media.

Every minute, 60 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube, 3000 images go up
on Flickr and more than 700 YouTube links are tweeted There are 95
million Tweets a day, 85% of bloggers post more than once a week, and 57%
of people talk more online than they do in real life
(Howell, 2012, p4)
Bennett (2005, p223) argues that large-scale transnational activism has displayed
remarkable organisational capabilities in recent years to wage sustained protests
against corporations and transnational organisations. Deegan (2001, p13) believes
there is no doubt that this new form of activism has been a result of the power and
growth of social media and states that, activists have taken to the internet like ducks
to water. Brown (2009, p20) agrees and believes that activists are, taking matters
into their own hands through their blogs and online networks and user generated
content. They are organising political campaigns and building coalitions based
around common interests. They are spreading news and information to one another
on a scale never before thought possible. They are the masters now.

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Porta et al (2005, p8) believe that it is the internationalisation of the global
environment as a result of the above point that produces opportunities for activists to
engage in concerted collective action from all corners of the world. However they
also highlight how globalisation alone, is not sufficient enough to produce a
transnationalisation of collective action and that relational changes between actors
must be the catalyst (Porta et al, 2005, p8). In other words activists have had to
engage in globalisation by forming sustained networks on a transnational basis.

Porta et al (2005, p7) explain how this has developed by pointing to the development
of electronic social media communications and the spread of inexpensive
international travel as the basis for which formerly isolated activists and movements
have now been able to communicate and collaborate with one another across
borders, ultimately creating the transnational network of activists needed to combat
the growing threat or power of transnational corporations.

There is also evidence to demonstrate how social media has been used by activists to
coordinate and enhance their offline campaigning as well. Bennett (2005, p205-207)
refers to the impact of communication and information technologies on the global
Anti War protests in 2003 against the War in Iraq. Bennett believes that social media
allowed for global activists to agree on simultaneous protests, deeper levels of
coordination, sharing open source communication technologies, establishing web
links, and agreeing on common messages that would encourage inclusiveness and
maximize turnout (Bennett, 2005, p206). Bennett gives examples of certain tactics in
the following statement:

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These technological links and social software common to many sites
facilitated the diffusion of posters, banners, slogans, information about
gathering points, transportation, computer matching of socially comfortable
groups for different types of people to join, guides to protest tactics, and
information and Internet news reports on the war and the pending protests.
The result of this combination of on- and offline networking may well stand
as the largest simultaneous multinational demonstration in recorded history.
(Bennett, 2005, p207)

Even our Governments, political leaders and those in the corridors of power have
realised the impact social media is having on activism and peoples ability to
campaign. Brown (2009, p20) points to a speech made by George Osbourne MP,
currently Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, in London;
With all these profound changes the Googleization of the worlds
information, the creation of online social networks bigger than whole
populations, the ability of new technology to harness the wisdom of crowds
and the rise of user-generated content we are seeing the democratisation of
the means of production, distribution and exchange People are no longer
prepared to sit and be spoon-fed.
George Osbourne MP (cited in Brown 2009, p20)

2.2: Online War - Corporations VS Activists
The internet has facilitated the formation of new global alliances, bringing
together well-established NGOs, so called culture jammers, activists, and
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ordinary citizens. Individual companies are targeted as examples or symbols
of general problems. The internet is used to increase the capacity of activists
and organisations to disseminate information and mobilise support for their
cause.
(Rosenkrands, 2004, p57)

The quote above demonstrates how activists globally are using the internet and social
media as means to attack corporations which they feel are symbols of things they
disagree with. In order to understand the significance of such attacks it is useful to
consider the importance of corporate image and corporate reputations. Dowling
(1994, p5) points to the advertising genius David Ogilvy who created the idea that
corporate brands can have a personality or image which reflects the fact that people
buy or use products and services not only for what they do but also for what they
mean to people.

David Ogilvys successful approach to giving products a personality, and
then advertising the brand rather than the product, provides a clue to how a
company may use its reputation. If the organisation can create its own
distinct personality, image or position in peoples minds, then it has
differentiated itself from competitors. If this image fits the individuals
values, then your organisations reputation will be a good one. Also research
dealing with individuals self-concepts suggests that people will respond
favourably to brands and companies they perceive to have an image which is
consistent with their own self-concept. Hence, a good corporate image is
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one that the target group of stakeholders can favourably relate to, and can
use to form a good reputation.
(Dowling, 1994, p14)

The point in the quote above, people will respond favourably to brands and
companies they perceive to have an image which is consistent with their own self-
concept, is key here in understanding why activists would target a corporations
image. Ind (1992, p27) describes how a corporate image is identified as the picture
a companys audience has of it and this is determined by a companys actions. With
this in mind activists opposed to the actions of a corporation would attempt to
influence the public to also share their viewpoint and to do this they will attack the
corporations image (Deegan, 2001, p9). This is also the view of Bennett (2005,
p223) who shows how highly effective this can be by pointing to successes in
activists and campaign groups successfully targeting corporations and multinationals
having won compliance with demands for new industry practices and social
responsibility standards.

According to Deegan (2001, p7) these attacks on corporate image and reputation are
a growing threat across the globe and she believes there is, no doubt that the advent
of the Internet has seen and will continue to see a growing number of individuals
becoming involved in activism as well as an increase in the number of special
interest groups being set up.

Deegan (2001, p12) elaborates this point, on the power of the internet creating and
amplifying an activist campaign, by stating that, the immediate global transmission
of information combined with open access by all, including the media, means that
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attacks can develop at such speed that they can appear to spring from nowhere.
However corporations according to Ind (1992, p101), today employ lobbyists and
PR agencies to try to create favourable impression of an organisation or an
industry, so there is a line of defence against such activism.

Following on from Inds (1992, p101) point it seems only natural that Corporations
would therefore also use social media as a means to enhance their corporate image
and reputation. However Brown (2009, 51) would suggest that this may actually be
playing into the hands of activists and campaigning organisations:
Commercial interests that engage with social network sites should do so
with great consideration and caution. This is an open environment where the
audience can talk back and if they dont like what youre doing or saying
they will say so. The most important thing to consider when planning a
campaign that involves activity within a social network is whether you are
able to give anything of any value to your audience through your
participation. Simply promoting a commercial message will not be regarded
as valuable.
(Brown, 2009, p51)
Activists will also be waiting for opportunities to attack corporations and as Deegan
(2001, p130) highlights, corporate emergencies such as oil spills, explosions,
chemical leaks etc. attract activist condemnation and coordinated attacks. Deegan
(2001, p130) also highlights the use of orchestrated media campaigns by activists to
damage corporate reputation. Social medias relationship with traditional media is
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another element that is changing the impact activism can have on corporate
reputation as highlighted by Bennett (2004, p141)

New media provide alternative communication spaces in which information
can develop and circulate widely with fewer conventions or editorial filters
than in the mainstream media. The gate keeping capacity of the traditional
press is weakened when information appears on the internet, presenting new
material that may prove irresistible to competitors in the world of 24/7 news
channels that now occupy important niches in the press food chain.
Moreover, journalists may actively seek story ideas and information from
web sources, thus creating many pathways for information to flow from
micro to mass media.
(Bennett 2004, p141)

Bennetts point highlights how corporations can no longer rely on the editorial filters
they were use to when all PR was done via printed media. Social media makes PR
instant and as Brown (2009, p51) pointed out the internet and social media is an,
open environment where the audience can talk back and if they dont like what
youre doing or saying they will say so.

Donk et al (2004, p11) would agree and describe how social movements, as well as
improving their movements capacity to act in coordinated ways, and to react quicker
to external challenges, are becoming less dependent on established mass media to
convey their messages and objectives to a large audience. Corporations would never
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have had to deal with this before and it is clear from Deggans and Bennetts points
that activists are certainly hijacking this opportunity to talk back.

Rosenkrands (2004, p60) highlights a quote from a personal interview he conducted
with Kenny Bruno, who is a project coordinator at CorpWatch, who stated that, I
think the lesson gets sent to other companies when one company is hurt (by
activism). I am sure that Shell is not the only company that has reacted to Shells own
problems. Other companies see that and say: Oh my gosh, that better not happen to
me. So I think it is worthwhile for our movement to target companies to make them
examples.

Ultimately it would seem that sports clubs, music, fashion, leisure even politics will
be better suited to participation in social networks than oil companies or banks
(Brown, 2009, p51).

2.3: Social Media & the Environmental Movement
According to Donk et al (2004, p4) organisations within the Environmental
Movement, such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, have used the internet to be
highly effective in shaping public opinion. Donk et al (2004, p4) would then go
further and state that in particular environmental organisations, such as those
mentioned, are especially attractive to younger generations and therefore it is
obvious that the internet is an effective tool to foster this strength.

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There is also an argument that social media helps level the playing field between the
environmental movement and the vast resources of corporates and multinationals.
Matthews (2010 online) points out how this new form of media is helping
environmental activists to combat the powerful propaganda and immense
resources of the fossil fuel industries and polluting corporations. He states that
although the environmental movement can never outspend or overcome the well-
established economic interests of these corporations, the adoption of social media
actually levels the playing field despite a lack of financial resources. Matthews
(2010 online) sums this up by stating that social media democratises the
environmental debate.
It is important to note however that there a number of different strains within the
environmental movement and each one might incorporate social media into their
campaigning in different ways. Donk et al (2004, p14) would highlight this by
describing how several observers have distinguished between three major strands of
environmental movements: an apolitical conservationism, a political but mainly
pragmatic environmentalism, and a more radical and fundamentalist political
ecology. Donk et al then state that they believe the pragmatic environmentalists
would be the most prone to using ICTs and social media because they are, used to
thinking in terms of instrumental rationality and are more open to any kind of
organisational and technical innovation concerning their own operations.

Donk et al (2004, p15-16) give examples such as the large and powerful
organisations such as the Sierra Club in America which they described as being,
very quick in recognising and exploiting the advantages of ICTs and digital
communications to facilitate internal communication, to keep their members
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informed, to present themselves to outsiders via their online presence and to
communicate with others. Donk et al would stress however that the larger more
powerful organisations have the larger resources and can therefore purchase the
necessary hardware and the hiring of human resources to professionalise their online
presence and use of online communication beyond what many within the
environmental movement could afford.

Secondly Donk et al (2004, p16) describe how organisations and networks spanning
large territories, even if poor in resources, are likely to implement online
campaigning and ICTs simply because these approaches are much cheaper than
distributing letters, papers, leaflets, and action calls by paper-based mail. Therefore
Donk et al (2004, p16) are not surprised that groups such as Greenpeace
International, Friends of the Earth International and the World Wide Fund for Nature
are among those who were early adopters of these techniques and continue to use
them widely.

Social media has also had an impact on another element of the environmental
movement which is the more radical and militant groups involved in property
destruction and sabotage commonly referred to as Ecotage or Monkeywrenching.
According to Plows et al (2010, p1), ecotage is sabotage carried out by
environmental activists that is intended to cause material damage to their
opponents, and is used rather than engaging in negotiation or peaceful campaigning.

The development of groups involved in Ecotage or Monkeywrenching in the UK was
according to Plows et al (2010, p12) due to, the disappointment of a young
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generation of activists in the weakness and moderation of the existing green groups
in the UK. There is also a view among radical environmentalists that, when
resources are low, then ecotage is viewed as the most effective way of getting results
and also when living in an area where there are few other activists and the costs of
overt mobilisation are too high (Plows et al, 2010, p9).

Plows et al (2010, p16) refer to the research of (Gamson 1990) who describes that
radical environmentalists use of property destruction and sabotage has been in
decline due to what he believes to be the use of new media and the spread of
education which provided more activists with, the resources and repertoires to
protest within the system (Plows et al, 2010, p16).

The view that the increase in new media and education would very much
compliment the view of Matthews (2010 online) who proposes the view that social
media democratises the environmental debate. In other words activists who may
have taken part in ecotage can now join with activists online and they may no longer
feel isolated and resort to more militant tactics. Matthews (2010 online) also
highlighted how social media has levelled the playing field making environmental
groups more effective which gives more backing to the views of Plows et al (2010,
p12) that ecotage developed due to their ineffectively before the emergence of social
media.

As mentioned Donk et al (2004, p4) believe that the environmental movements use
of social media makes them more attractive to younger generations. Plows et al
believed it was a younger generation of activists that developed the use of ecotage so
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it could be suggested based on the combined views of Donk et al (2004, p4) and
Plows et al (2010, p12) that social media could be de-radicalising younger
generations within the environmental movement away from ecotage. Very much
substituting the monkey wrech for the keyboard.
















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Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1 Methodology
The goal of most qualitative researchers... is to understand the world of
lived experience from the point of view of those who live and work in it. They
are concerned with subjective reality, that is, what events, objects and others
mean to other people.
(Daymon et al, 2002, p12)
Qualitative interviewing begins with the assumption that the perspective of
others is meaningful, knowable, and able to be made explicit. We interview to
find out what is in and on someone elses mind, to gather their stories.
(Patton, 2002, p341)
This is a qualitative study looking at Social Media and the Environmental Movement
with the purpose of establishing the benefits or otherwise of social media, in
particular its influence and effectiveness as a campaigning tool for the environmental
lobby. To meet the research objectives it was decided that the most effective use of
data collection would be to use semi-structured face-to-face interviews with
practitioners and activists from organisations and groups within the Environmental
Movement and other campaigning organisations.

As Tesch (1990, p55) states, qualitative data is any information the researcher
gathers that is not expressed in numbers. This research study will gather its data
from semi-structured face to face interviews and as Woods (2006, online) suggests a
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substantial amount of qualitative data can come from talking with people and
interviews can tap into the depths of reality of the situation and discover subjects'
meanings and understandings.

It was felt that in order to truly understand the impact social media has had on the
environmental movement that in-depth discussion with practitioners and activists
would be the most productive method for the reasons that Daymon et al (2002, p6)
highlight when they explain that, qualitative researchers are interested in deep
exploration in order to provide rich, detailed, holistic description as well as
explanation. This deep exploration would birth far greater understanding than a
quantitative questionnaire would have as expressed by Patton:

The purpose of qualitative interviewing is to capture how those being
interviewed view their world, to learn their terminology and judgements, and
to capture the complexities of their individual perceptions and experiences.
This openness distinguishes qualitative interviewing from the closed
questionnaire or test used in quantitative studies. Such closed instruments
force respondents to fit their knowledge, experiences, and feelings into the
researchers categories.
(Patton, 2002, p348)
This is important because this research is not setting out to test and prove a
hypothesis. It is attempting to understand the subjective experience of interviewees
from the environmental movement, rather than attempting to define variables
numerically to test a particular theory on social media or activism. Therefore
interviewing is the best key to understanding because as Rubin et al (2005, p33)
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explain, the low key and open ended way in which interviewing is conducted
encourages the conversational partners to suggest topics, concerns, and meanings
that are important to them.

This is why a semi-structured interview is being employed to gather the research
rather than a structured interview. This tends to be common practice in the
qualitative research field as highlighted by Daymon et al (2002, p169) for the reason
being that, structured interviews tend to stifle the flexibility that is so valued in
qualitative research. However Daymon et al (2002, p171) do highlight the need for
some control over the interview, so that the topic can be explored the purpose of
study achieved, which is why semi-structured is being used. This is further
explained by Wengraf:

Semi structured interviews are designed to have a number of interviewer
questions prepared in advance but such prepared questions are designed to
be sufficiently open that the subsequent questions of the interviewer cannot
be planned in advance but must be improvised in a careful and theorised
way.
(Wengraf, 2001, p5)

There are of course challenges with this method of data collection due to the open-
endedness and improvisation as Patton (2002, p432) explains:

There are no formulas for determining significance. No ways exist of
perfectly replicating the researchers analytical thought processes. No
straightforward tests can be applied for reliability and validity. In short, no
25

absolute rules exist except perhaps this: Do your very best with your full
intellect to fairly represent the data and communicate what the data reveal
given the purpose of the study.
(Patton, 2002, p432)

Wengraf (2001, p5) would agree with the views of Patton (2002) and states therefore
that in order for qualitative semi structured interviews to be successful they require,
as much preparation before the session, probably and certainly more discipline and
more creativity in the session, and certainly more time for analysis and
interpretation after the session. However Kvale et al (2009, p100) believe the
absence of this prescribed set of rules for interviewing does and can create an open
ended field of opportunities for the interviewers skills. Therefore the quality of the
research and information obtained during the interviews is very much dependent on
the interviewer (Patton, 2002, p341).

In preparation for the interviews the researcher followed the Seven Stages of an
Interview Inquiry as explained by Kvale et al (2009, p102). Kvale et al (2009, p99)
would point out that in a qualitative semi-structured research interview there are no
agreed standard procedures or rules that exist for the preparation, execution and
analysis of the interviews. However they do point to seven standard choices of
approach and technique that were used for this research which are listed and
explained as follows:

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1. Thematising - Thematising is formulating the purpose of an investigation and
the conception of the theme to be investigated before the interviews start.
Thematising for this research was conducted in the literature review.

2. Designing Designing really considering all seven stages and formulating
interview questions before interviewing with regard to obtaining the intended
knowledge and moral implications of the study. Rubin et al (2005, p39)
describe the design stage of a research project as picking the appropriate
topic, formulating the research question, choosing the interviewees and
deciding what questions to ask them. The designing of the research was
conducted through the Risks and Ethics forms and also within this
methodology.

3. Interviewing This is the actual act of conducting the interviews based on
the designed interview questions with a reflective approach to the
knowledge sought and the interpersonal relation of the interview situation,
(Kvale et al, 2009, p102).

4. Transcribing This is the preparation of data collected for the purpose of
analysing the completed interviews which requires the transcription of the
interview from the oral recordings to written text. Flick (2006, p290) believes
that, precise transcription of data absorbs time and energy, which could be
invested in the interpretation of the interviews instead. In other words
transcription is of course an important element of the research study but
should not dominate the process with an unnecessary exactness of wording.
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5. Analysing This stage is to gather the meaning and nature of the material
gained by employing the most appropriate mode of analysis. For this research
a number analytical methods were used such as Meaning Condensation
whereby long statements are compressed into briefer statements without
necessarily transforming the data into quantitative expressions and also
Meaning Interpretation where the meaning of the interview goes beyond a
structuring or what is said to more critical interpretations of the text (Kvale et
al, 2009, p205).

6. Verifying This stage ascertains the validity, reliability, and
generalisability of the interview findings (Kvale et al, 2009, p102). The
researcher looks for consistencies or inconsistencies and whether the research
findings meet in the intention and objectives of the research study.

7. Reporting This stage is turning the data you have collected and
communicating it into a readable product making sure it lives up to academic
criteria with all the ethical aspects taken into consideration.
Seven Stages of an Interview Inquiry (Kvale et al, 2009, p102)

Nine organisations were contacted first via an email (see appendix) and then a follow
up phone call. Six organisations responded positively but due to various unforeseen
circumstances two planned interviews fell through leaving the researcher with four
organisations to interview.
28


The time taken for each individual interview varied from between thirty minutes to
one hour - there were four carried out in total. One interview was with an
organisation within N. Ireland whilst the other three were conducted with
organisations operating on a European wide basis. Each of their roles consisted of a
Public Relations Officer, Press Officer, Web Editor and Project Assistant all of
which had active roles in the use of social media in their organisations. Open-ended
questions were designed to ascertain interviewees personal experience of social
media and the perceived benefits or otherwise for campaigning and activism. The
participant from N. Ireland was interviewed in person whereas the rest of the
participants were interviewed via the use of Skype and webcams to retain the value
of face-to-face interviews.

Focus groups and questionnaires were considered as options for carrying out the
research however both were considered to be unsuitable. Focus groups were ruled
out because such a method would have compromised the confidentiality individual
interviews would offer and possibly encouraged participants to stick to standardised
organisational lines rather than responding from their own personal perspective
which would be far more valuable to this research.
Questionnaires were also discounted because although they may prove useful in
particular circumstances and potentially able to offer a degree of anonymity, they
were considered to be too impersonal and too limited in terms of providing sufficient
qualitative information for the purposes of this study. This view was influenced by
Rubin et al (2005, p35) who believe that in order to get a depth of understanding
from interviews your interview design must remain flexible to accommodate new
29

information, to adapt to the actual experiences that people have had, and to adjust to
unexpected situations.

3.2 Construction of Questions for semistructured
interviews
Interviews should be conducted in a collaborative way with the intent that
interviewees are freely able to articulate the topics and experiences that are
of interest to them.
(Daymon et al, 2002, p166)

Seven questions were formulated for use in the interviews and attempted to be as
open ended as possible to generate discussion and more in depth and content from
the interviewee hoping to for unexpected data as described by Daymon et al (2002,
p6) as exploring new and often surprising avenues that emerge as informants reveal
their understandings and interests.

The questions where formulated with the hope of gaining insight into specific case
studies from each organisation on how social media has impacted on their
campaigning, how much time is dedicated to social media in their roles, social
medias relationship to offline campaigning, impact on engagement with different
demographics, relationships with traditional media, how social media could be better
utilised within the environmental movement and also seeking to gain views on
30

piracy and censorship laws that some groups feel could impact on the use of the
internet as a campaigning tool.

The questions were finalised as follows:

Q1 - To what extent does your organisation use social media to achieve campaign
objectives and can you provide example case studies of your organisations best use
of social media as a campaigning tool?

Q2 On average how many hours of each day would you spend using social media
for the benefit of your organisations aims and objectives?

Q3 - In your experience do you feel that social media is more effective at achieving
campaign objectives compared to offline direct action / protests / demonstrations?

Q4 Do you feel your organisations use of social media makes it easier to engage
with younger generations compared to offline communication methods?

Q5 Has social media lessened your organisations dependence on traditional forms
of mass media?

Q6 - Do you feel that your organisation could better utilise social media and if so in
what ways? And in your personal opinion what other organisations show best use of
social media?

31


as a researcher, you have the freedom to prompt for more information if
something interesting or novel emerges because you are not restricted to a
pre-planned, rigid list of questions.
(Daymon et al, 2002, p167)

Throughout each of the interviews the researcher prompted interviewees to elaborate
more on certain statements they made and once all questions had been covered
invited the interviewee to say anything else that he or she thought might be relevant
to the topic or the interview process that had not yet been mentioned as also
recommended by Wengraf (2001, p205).









32

Chapter 4: Results and Analysis
4.1: Question 1
To what extent does your organisation use social media to achieve campaign
objectives and can you provide example case studies of your organisations best
use of social media as a campaigning tool?

Key statements made by participants in response to Question 1 were as follows:

We had just about 100 FB members in October 2010 and now we have 700
members which shows the increase in our use of social media and its relevance and
importance

It is very difficult to fit into the news agenda so social media is important because it
takes away those editorial blockages that are there and lets us communicate with
people directly.

I would manage the FB page for the group but our leader manages his own twitter
account. I dont think twitter should be used by a press officer as twitter is more
personal, it is a person to person form of communication which is why we use
33

Facebook having our organisations page and our twitter is more about
communication from an individual from within our organisation.

When I post something to FB I would also post it to members individual pages so
that we dont just talk to people that already agree with us, it is important not to fall
into the echo chamber trap. I would post to members pages so that their friends can
see what we are interested in and hopefully follow the links to our page for more
information, which we have seen they do.

We have used FB for petition signing. We supported another group with a petition
which we supported and gained 5000 signatures over 4 days. Now if you were to
replicate that by going out with a pen and clipboard it would involve a lot of man
hours and people wont stop on the street as they will think you are trying to sell
them something making it very difficult to engage with people. They might just sign
it to get away from you and thats not what you want, you want to actually engage
with people. However when using social media we could actually see the
effectiveness of Facebook by gaining over 5000 signatures in a matter of days.

To me, and I dont mean this in a negative sense, social media is like a virus, in
other words you pass it on to other people and they either pick it up or they dont.
We seen this with our sharing of the petition, it spread and spread and it went viral
very quickly going national and international... how could we ever do that without
the use of social media?
34


You know that when the multi-nationals start launching money at social media that
our campaigning must be working.

We organised an event recently which we had no budget for and so it was
completely marketed on Facebook. We put an ad up on Facebook for people or other
organisations who wanted to book stalls and within a week we had 25 people
wanting a stall, just from a post on Facebook! And during the event so many people
said they heard about the event from Facebook.

Its a really valuable tool but it is not something you should solely rely on. The real
caveat with social media is that if you have say 2000 friends or followers... well that
doesnt actually translate into support. It means that they just might be interested in
hearing what you have to say and so you have to keep them engaged and interested
but at the same time not over bombard them with information.

Some days I would maybe put up 5-6 Facebook posts, some days none at all,
because I want it to have a bit of impact. Twitter is more of a faster moving
conversation whereas Facebook is more like a magazine and so if you keep
bombarding people they are simply not going to read it. People read things different
on line compared to on a page. People will buy a newspaper and read the article
whereas online it is a lot more difficult to grab that attention from people. Thats
why twitter is useful with the limit of 140 characters.
35


I trained in journalism and there is a very different way to write articles for
newspapers and how you write for online publication.

We have used social media extensively for petitioning and for events and it has
worked successfully for both.

Our organisation is different because we arent explicitly a campaigning
organisation, we are more of a think tank and education centre on the European
platform, we dont campaign to change laws, and our campaign is more to do with
education in order to make our movement stronger. We put together publications,
studies and guides which we then publish online as well as having web resources
such as an online journal so ultimately we are reliant on social media to
communicate these aspects of our work as well as our websites.

Our websites gain most of our visitors from social media. The main reason for that
is it is the easiest way to contact people, there is no real European level media so we
dont really send out press releases and there is no daily newspaper that most
Europeans read so we are uniquely reliant on social media to get across what we are
doing and that goes the same for advertising events and for promoting publications.

36

We do hold offline events but it is the online aspect that is pretty crucial in
communicating them and getting the message out. We use Facebook and Twitter to
do this.

It is probably our main element in campaigns especially at the moment. We have a
unique position where we are campaigning at an environmental and political level in
Europe but we are doing this in a space where people dont really pay attention at the
European level so the usual avenues of communication that other organisations
might use are not really open to us and so social media has been pushed to the
forefront.

In theory our social media was really just meant to back up and promote the website
but in practice it has actually been overshadowing the attention we should be giving
the website.

We have some members of staff that are very enthusiastic about social media but
there are some, in which I might be included, who are big fans of social media but
doubt that it has the level of impact that people say it has. Nonetheless it is a key
focus of our campaigning.

Social media helps us act as conduit for getting information, images and actions to
our members.
37


Social media is instantly gratifying and can create a sense of being effective but
whether it is or not is another question.

Our insites or statistics for our website clearly show that the vast majority of hits on
our website come from social media.

We try to use social media in all our campaigns but there is a great variation in how
successful it is and what we can do with it. For instance we found it very successful
when campaigning on the Internet Piracy law ACTA, it really exploded in the last
6 months because it effected the internet and so it made sense to campaign against it
using social media. ACTA was all to do with the internet and digital rights and so
people who were interested in these things got involved through the medium of the
internet. We found that social media was extremely effective with this campaign
especially the use of Twitter.

Our most active presence is on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, we used all three
of them with this campaign, but by far the most effective was Twitter. It was
fantastic at galvanising people, getting together, organising protests and the most
important for us was disseminating information because there was very little
information about ACTA out there. The campaign was successful because it affected
people on the internet who then emailed their MEPs in large numbers and most of
the things we do work on dont affect that constituency of people to the same extent
so you cant expect the same result with every campaign.
38


We have used social media during events. Like if we have a big event with
important speakers we would stream the whole thing online and let people ask
questions or comment via the use of social media. But that wasnt actually that
successful. For one event we had figures that showed at different points a few
hundred people watching to a thousand watching at another time yet we only
received about three questions altogether! So there is a huge disconnect between
those who are watching and those actually engaging or getting involved.

Most of our followers on social media are lobbyists or supporters and if they like
one of our posts, well thats great! Its always good to get that positive feedback, but
its not all that useful. Whereas if somebody shares it and has friends that are not
environmental or green then thats great because you might actually get someone
that disagrees with you and they are people we really need to be speaking to.

We produce a lot of videos which we post on YouTube, many of which few people
would watch. But again it depends on the topic because one of our spokespersons
made a speech which hit a nerve. It was recorded and put online and within 24 hours
we had over 50,000 hits compared to the few hundred hits we might have on other
videos.

When looking at the impact Social Media has on attendance at our events... I would
say little, definitely not. We would post events online on one hand for transparency,
39

so people know what events we are running, and on the other hand... well maybe
one day it will change and does impact on increased attendance at our events so we
are looking at the long term. The vast majority of people that do come to our events
learn about them from our email mailing list, which is still online, but not social
media.


4.2: Question 2
On average how many hours of each day would you spend using social media
for the benefit of your organisations aims and objectives?

Key statements made by participants in response to Question 2 were as follows:

I normally have FB running in the background constantly and I am constantly
checking it and you get other stories and a lot of the time you would get things
quicker via social media than you would via traditional media. Of course you have to
take it with a pinch of salt because it doesnt have that editorial process of traditional
media and so you have to be careful what you read.

During designated office hours I would maybe spend about 1 hour a day dedicated
to social media but when I go home I would actually spend more time on social
media, about 2-3 hours worth, so about 3 hours on average every day. I do this
because the timing of your posts on social media is important. During the day a lot of
40

people could be at work etc so are unlikely to read any lengthy post on Facebook
whereas in the evening a lot more people, when at home, are online and so I would
say our social media presence is tailored based on the time of day.

Looking at what other organisations do I actually think our presence on social media
is fairly basic. I spend an hour or two a day posting articles or information about
events and scanning it for info and other event details. I also use it to find out what
other foundations or actors are doing. But that is just me personally, other members
of our small team also use social media during the day so collectively I would say 3-
4 hours a day using social media.

I would be on social media all day, it is a constant thing because I wouldnt just use
it to get our own information out there, I use it as a source of information for myself
and our own campaigns. Im seeing information and giving out information.

Some days it could be an hour or two hours but other days it is continuous
throughout the day. We are constantly monitoring it.

I would probably only be on social media for about an hour each day when
something comes up where I think Oh we should post that on Facebook or if we
havent posted anything that day. We purposely only post one thing a day on
Facebook because we dont want to bombard people with material. On Facebook
41

you run the risk of being hidden or un-liked and people will never see what you are
saying again. With Twitter though you can just keep on going and going posting a
far greater variety of topics. You see Twitter is fantastic for immediate dissemination
of very immediate breaking information. So Facebook and Twitter are two very
different mediums and we treat them that way.


4.3: Question 3
In your experience do you feel that social media is more effective at achieving
campaign objectives compared to offline direct action / protests /
demonstrations?
Key statements made by participants in response to Question 3 were as follows:

The two (online and offline activism) if managed properly can work effectively
together and the reason being is that you can test the temperature of what people
think online to see how many people are interested.

Where I think the two work together is that you can reach a critical mass with your
message gaining interest and although you might get a lot of people interested not
everyone might want to go and take part in a protest. But for those who are going to
protest knowing that you have support of thousands online will actually empower the
42

activists... so the online support can hugely boost the morale for on the ground
protest.

Chaining yourself to the gates of an oil distillery will not stop the flow of oil but it
will gain the attention of traditional media to you. Protests are ultimately press stunts
for the traditional media and so you can reach that audience that might not use social
media. But from this presence and attention of traditional you can then post photos
and coverage of the protest on your Facebook page and post your own press release
without the editorial filter of the traditional media.

There is a hope that when people read about a protest or event in traditional media
that that link will be made and they will then go onto our social media site for more
information. 95% of them likely wont, but there will be that core amount of people
that will go onto the Facebook page or website and it is here that we have that
opportunity where the editorial gate does not exist and where we can present our side
of the story without that dissenting voice saying that we are just lunatic
environmentalists. If you want an example of why this is important look at the
Greenham Common Protests. The protesters were described as unemployed lunatic
lesbians with nothing better to do by a lot of traditional media. The editorial filter
rarely took into account of the actual reasons for the protests being that America is
storing weapons on British soil.

43

We have had more new members this year than we have had over the past three
years combined and that has a lot to do with our increased social media presence. I
can see a direct correlation because I have found a number of cases when I post
something and someone then likes that post or page... I then find we get an email
saying that individual wants to join.

Being able to sign people up online has a lot to do with our increased membership
when combined with social media. If someone reads something in a magazine they
might think oh that issue is awful! I should do something about it... well an hour
later that emotion might be gone whereas online social media makes it so much
easier to capture that emotion and sign people up to get involved. The speed of social
media and the internet allows us to capture that moment of engagement and passion
with just two clicks of a mouse. Getting people to join when everything was paper
based was so much more difficult when trying to capture that often fleeting moment
of passion or engagement.

We dont do a lot of protest or direct actions we instead would organise seminars or
workshops. We need both this and social media to be successful. I need content and
information from events in order to post content on social media instead of just
random posts. So I rely on people on the ground that are at events to take photos etc.
Social media is really a means of promoting the rest of our work or promoting future
events and our publications so its kind of a case of one versus the other. Its a tool to
increase attendance at an event or increase hits on our website.

44

My short answer would be no. There are a number of problems with social media.
For instance you might post something on Facebook and get a lot of likes but this
requires little effort or engagement and doesnt really lead to any action being taken
so it is non committal. I think therefore social media can exaggerate the level of
active support you have.

If you are marching down a street you are going to engage people who didnt know
what you were campaigning for whereas people who follow you on Facebook tend to
be your own supporters so you are only really engaging people who already know
your message, in other words preaching to the converted.

The more traditional act of marching means that people cant avoid your message
and you can then better reach that demographic that might not be represented on
Facebook, Twitter or other forms of social media.

Social media can take activists and turn them into arm chair activists. People like or
share something and think thats enough. What social media should be used for is to
promote the actions of activists that have taken part in traditional forms of action.
The danger is that social media is replacing these traditional forms of activism rather
than promoting and that is not good.

45

When you strike that balance and social media is used to promote events and
traditional forms of activism then I think it can be very useful, but its striking that
balance.

I would say no unless it is followed up by some form of offline action. The two of
them have to go hand in hand. I think you can actually effect change just by doing
say street protests without using any social media at all, but with social media you
have to follow it with offline action, it really needs to be a means to mobilise people
to do offline actions in order to be effective.

You can focus too much on social media and you can end up getting caught up in
an echo chamber. Things get retweeted and shared by people who already agree with
you and so you tend to be preaching to the converted rather than reaching new
audiences.

There isnt any such thing as a good social media campaign that isnt part of an
overall good campaign. Social media cant be in isolation when campaigning.




46

4.4: Question 4
Do you feel your organisations use of social media makes it easier to engage
with younger generations compared to offline communication methods?
Key statements made by participants in response to Question 4 were as follows:

Absolutely! Young people tend not to read newspapers and any newspaper survey
will tell you that demographically young people do not read newspapers for the most
part. We want to engage young people because at the end of the day the issue of the
environment is directly linked to their future. Getting ourselves into the mainstream
media is great of course but I just dont think we are really reaching the people that
we most importantly need to reach.

Being able to mobilise and discuss issues with younger people online and having
that two way discussion with young people is absolutely essential... otherwise you do
the one thing you dont want to do which is preach at them. With social media
people can reply, people can challenge you and people can ask questions.

The likes on our Facebook page are mostly from young people so yes we can
connect with them more easily through it. But does it make it easier to actually
engage with them? I guess so... but its difficult to know exactly how effective this
is.

47

Yes that is unequivocal. The engagement with younger people is probably the
greatest strength of social media. That age bracket of say 18-24... not many of them
are newspaper readers and they are not politically engaged so being able to reach
them via social media is critical.

Im not sure how deep that connection and engagement with young people really
is... but it definitely helps yes.

We held an big event in Paris not so long ago with members from all over Europe
attending and id say over a third of the attendees were in the 18 to 30 age bracket
which I think was pretty phenomenal and I do think that social media played a part in
that.

Yes absolutely, the amount of time young people spend on things like Facebook is
phenomenal, they spend more time on it than watching TV adverts. I dont think
there has been any campaign, excluding in the USA, where even TV adverts have
been hugely effective anyway so for the 18-30 age group social media is the best
way to go.

I think if young people share our posts and messages across Facebook it can be
highly effective and probably the most effective way of reaching this demographic. I
48

think as well the younger you are the more time you actually spend on social media
and this is increasing so it could become even more influential in the future.


4.5: Question 5
Has social media lessened your organisations dependence on traditional forms
of mass media?
Key statements made by participants in response to Question 5 were as follows:

The two go hand in hand... we have trouble gaining access to the traditional media
but we do have the benefit of having a very good media spokesperson who always
performs well and is good in interviews whether radio or TV. So journalists do know
we can provide a good interviewee but we always find that we really have to bang at
the door to become part of the discussion.

We would never turn down the opportunity to engage in mainstream media because
one feeds into the other. Some people only use social media and the internet for news
whereas some people just use mainstream media and so you have to hit both
effectively.

49

From my own personal perspective I think people maybe do put more trust in
traditional media because of the checks and balances but on the flip side of that I
have noticed news articles on the BBC which, as a Journalist, I just knew something
wasnt right with it. So by then going on social media I was actually able to find out
information which proved the information on the BBC to be wrong. So social media
can actually become a check and balance for traditional media and it is never really
thought of as that, most people would see it as the other way around.

For many people social media is becoming peoples primary source of getting
news.

For us what we put up on social media is propaganda, lets be honest and call a
spade a spade, its propaganda. Its what we want, its ours views, its our actions with
our own editorial applied but when people look at something on say the BBC, which
has gone through legal filters, checks and balances and editorials, it obtains a sense
of gravitas which it doesnt gain on social media.

We wouldnt really use the traditional forms of media that other groups can use
because there isnt really a European wide traditional media. However we would use
other methods like going to events and conferences promoting our brand with one on
one interaction, networking in other words. We would sometimes get coverage in
local newspapers where we hold events in different parts of Europe but this is these
papers covering our events rather than us going to them with a press release.
50


I do feel it has led to a decline in those aspects of traditional media which I do find
worrying. But we do still engage and do send out press releases and do appear in
traditional media especially when we comment or engage on an issue of national
importance.

We are starting to find that twitter has become useful in actually connecting with
traditional forms of mass of media. For instance if we posted a comment on twitter
and a politician or commentator retweets us we tend to get maybe 5-10 more
followers and we are finding that more and more of these followers are actually
journalists. This is important because it is liberating our tweets from that echo
chamber and are instead actually being read and considered by journalists from
traditional forms of media which is highly valuable.

There is this idea that social media is going to supersede traditional media and on a
personal level I really hope that doesnt happen because I feel that is extremely
dangerous. On social media there are a lot of biased and untrained people and the
idea of them replacing journalists is not progress at all. You have full time
professional journalists who are trained and aware of the issues and counter issues
and it is their job to be informed and of course they dont always get it right but they
have a much greater chance of getting it right than activists and people on Twitter
who are just political tourists who can drop in and out.

51

Twitter as a tool for journalists? Great! But Twitter as a replacement for journalists?
Disaster! That would be an absolute disaster for democracy and a disaster for
political debate.

The answer is definitely not. We have more people working on press work than on
social media. Social Media is pretty much me and another employee working on it a
little bit each week whereas we have three people and an assistant working on press
work whose jobs are to making links with journalists, create contacts and send out
press releases.

We still get excited about getting our photos in papers say for instance the Financial
Times. I think the ACTA campaign is the only exception to the rule where we were
more dependent on the use of social media than traditional forms of media.

Social media in general can work well with traditional media. Our press officer
would run our Twitter and he has good experience of how to use it but also most
importantly has links with a number of journalists which makes our use of it more
effective. This is important because more journalists are now using Twitter as a way
to access information. We have talked to a number of journalists who would say that
when they are at events or press conferences they are actually on Twitter constantly
during these events.

52

Journalists use of Twitter helps with the problem of the echo chamber because most
of the people following us are lobbyists and supporters so the increase in journalists
following us is great because it helps us to access a different demographic of people
by using social media to speak to traditional media.


4.6: Question 6
Do you feel that your organisation could better utilise social media and if so in
what ways? And in your personal opinion what other organisations show best
use of social media?
Key statements made by participants in response to Question 6 were as follows:

The Greenpeace Arctic Campaign is wonderful, it combined everything! They put
the polar bear out in London, traditional media picked it up, people shared the
photographs online and it took off massively. They had a run up teaser campaign on
what they were going to do, they then did the event itself, they produced photos that
mainstream media simply could not resist, some really striking images came from
that event in London, and people online shared it widely and then people who might
not consider themselves environmentally minded were engaged by the images and
read the articles. It was a fantastic duel campaign that shows you what you can do
when you have the human resources to do it.

53

The European Parliament Website is extremely effective at using social media and
has a huge team to do this and they do it well.

I think its important to look at cost benefit analysis of social media. For instance if
my organisation got me to go full time with social media Im sure we could use it
more effectively. You have to ask yourself how much can you gain, will you get a
return on your investment. Some organisations I feel almost spam people with their
social media presence which puts people off, so maybe its better just to have
someone doing it part time and then using your other time better to communicate
your message in other ways such as brand recognition, networking relationships etc.

I think people can fall into the trap of the ease of social media so they would sit on
Facebook all day and miss the whole other aspect of communication such as building
your brand recognition and networking.

Greenpeace really use social media well. Their recent Shell Arctic campaign was
highly effective and extremely well constructed.

The Sea Shepherd Organisation does really good work with social media. I think it
is easier for them though as they are not really a policy driven organisation, they are
not trying to change laws... for them its all about direct action and confrontation.
They use social media to promote this direct action and engage with activists which
54

is an easier thing to do than trying to promote policy change and change of law like
we do.

I think we could less rely on Facebook and focus more on Twitter because the echo
chamber effect is less dominant on Twitter than it is on Facebook. On Facebook
there is greater chance that you are just preaching to the choir whereas on Twitter
there is more chance of different people dropping by to see what we are saying and
more chance of journalists observing what we are doing. More and more journalists
are becoming enthusiast about Twitter so it is important we reach them at this level.

One thing we have been discussing would be the use of live tweeting at meetings,
seminars, conventions and at other groups events we would be attending. I think we
could definitely increase the effectiveness and frequency of this because it is a great
way of demonstrating our attendance and presence.

Friends of the Earth Ireland I really look up to because they use their social media
to effectively get people to take an action by sending letters or emails to their locally
elected representatives. They really reduce the barrier of entry for users and make it
incredibly easy for people to take an action and do something constructive and I
think that is highly important, reducing those barriers to allow people to easily take
action.

55

I think it is a question of resources in particular human resources. If you look at
Greenpeace International and their Arctic Campaign... it can be surprisingly cheap to
actually create the websites and templates for us on social media so its not really a
question of money its about having the people there to make it interactive. They
would have a number of people there working on it so when someone leaves a
comment or asks a question they are there constantly to answer them. And I really
think this is the key to making social media work well because you want social
media to be attractive, you dont want it to be a one way thing where you are posting
information but not interacting, and at the moment we only have the human
resources and the time to make it a one way thing.











56

Positive
68%
Negative
32%
4.7: Analysis of Results
Question 1 Responses to the use of social media as a campaigning tool

















In total for question 1 there
were 25 responses that could
be categorised as positive or
negative with 17 (68%)
responses expressing a
positive view on social media
as a campaigning tool and 8
(32%) responses expressing a
negative view.

Table 1
57

1-2 hours
57%
3-4 hours
14%
Constant use
29%
Question 2 Hours spent each day using Social Media

















In total there were 4 responses (57%) which estimated they spent 1-2 hours
using social media each day and 1 response (14%) expressed that 3-4 hours was
spent each day. Note that one interviewee also expressed the hours spent by his
colleague which was included in the analysis chart above. Two respondents also
expressed that although they may have only spent 1-2 / 3-4 actively working on
social media that it was constantly on in the background. The results showed
that 2 respondents (29%) expressed this statement.

Table 2
58

Positive
Response
12%
Negative
Response
41%
Combined
Use
47%
Question 3 - Social media is more effective at achieving campaign objectives
compared to offline direct action / protests / demonstrations

















In total for Question 3
there were 17 responses. 2
responses (12%)
expressed a positive
statement and 7 responses
(41%) expressed a
negative response.
Another response
developed during the
interviews which
expressed how both could
complement each other
with combined use. 8
responses (47%)
expressed a preference for
combined use of both.



Table 3
59

Positive
80%
Negative
20%
Question 4 Social media and easier engagement with younger generations


















In total for Question 4
there were 10 responses. 8
responses (80%) expressed
a positive statement and 2
responses (20%) expressed
a negative statement.



Table 4
60

Agree
29%
Disagree
47%
Neutral
24%
Question 5 Social media lessening dependence on traditional forms of mass
media





















For Question 5 there were a total of
17 responses which could be
categorised as Agreeing,
Disagreeing or expressing a Neutral
response. 5 responses (29%)
expressed views agreeing with the
question and 8 responses (47%)
expressed views disagreeing with
the question. 4 responses (24%)
expressed neutral viewpoints e.g.
Both can complement each other.

Table 5
61

Agree
67%
Disagree
33%
Question 6
a) Can your organisation better utilise social media?























There were a total of 9 different
responses to Question 6. 6 responses
(67%) believed their organisation
could improve and better utilise the
use of social media within their
organisations campaigning and 3
responses (33%) felt they didnt need
to increase their use of social media
and were content with their current
use.



Table 6
62


b) Ways to improve use of social media and examples of other organisations
who express best use of social media.

The table below has taken the key examples given from interviewees as to how they
feel they could better utilise social media within their organisations and what other
organisations interviewees felt demonstrated best way of social media.

Ways use of social media could be
improved
Best use of social media
examples
More use of Twitter over Facebook
More engagement with Journalists on
Twitter
Increasing use of live tweeting at events
Reducing the barrier of entry for users
More human resources
Make it more interactive i.e. responding as
well as posting. Making social media more
of a two way conversation.
Greenpeace Shell Artic
Campaign x3
European Parliament
Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society
Friends of the Earth
Ireland

Table 7





63


Chapter 5: Discussion

The primary purpose of this research was to examine and explore social media and
the environmental movement with the purpose of establishing the benefits or
otherwise of social media, in particular its influence and effectiveness as a
campaigning tool for the environmental lobby.
The first question asked of participants was to gain an insight into the extent of use
of social media within each of their organisations. The question was asked in an
open ended way to offer as much freedom of discussion as possible for the
interviewees. A majority 68% of responses to this question demonstrated a positive
impact that social media has had on the ability campaign.

One interviewee pointed out how since October 2010 his / her organisation had
increased their online presence and use of social media demonstrating how they went
from 100 Facebook supporters to over 700 now. When probed further on what sort
of impact this online presence has had the interviewee explained his / her
organisations used of social media to generate support for petitions and gave the
example of one petition where over 5000 signatures were gained over a four day
period. The interviewee highlighted how if they had used offline tactics of going
with a pen and clipboard there would have been little chance of gaining such
support.

64

There was a response which explains this point effectively by describing social
media as a virus in which with social media you can pass something on to other
people who might pick it up and then pass it on to their friends and this continuous
facilitating the snowballing of issues as described by Deggan (2001, 13). A
respondent also highlighted how this virus effect can gain an international platform
for what might only be a local issue.

32% of responses expressed a negative view on the use of social media as a
campaigning tool. A number of these negative responses referred to some
interviewees scepticism regarding the real impact social medias have. One
interviewee pointed out how having 2000 friends on Facebook does not necessarily
translate into support. Other respondents referred to the echo chamber which
highlights the view that most of their followers or friends on Facebook or Twitter are
supporters and already agree with what they have to say. Respondents believe this is
not useful because they end up preaching to the converted rather than reaching new
audiences.

Looking comparatively at interviewees responses to question one, when probed
about use of social media to promote events, there was disagreement on how
effective this is. One respondent expressed how they recently organised an event
completely via social media and it proved to be very successful whereas another said
promoting events on social media has had little impact on attendance with most
attendees finding out about the event via their email mailing list.

It was pointed out by one response that at one event they had up to 1000 people
watching online from a stream. These viewers where asked to question or comment
65

on the event via social media and out of this number only three questions were
asked. The interviewee believes this shows a disconnect between those who are
watching online and those who are actually engaging and getting involved.

Based on these responses it would appear that different organisations have had
varied success in the use of social media to promote events. One interviewee spoke
further on this explaining how even though his / her organisation had not had much
success in using social media to promote events that they still continue to do so
because it creates transparency on what they are doing and they also hope that things
could change and it will become more relevant to event attendance in the future.

When asked how many hours each interviewee spent using social media each day the
responses diverse with some highlighting how their time spent on social media can
vary. A majority of responses stated that on average 1-2 hours would be spent on
social media each day with one respondent stating 3-4 hours. Some interviewees
highlighted how although they might only spend 1-2 or 3-4 hours on social media
each day that they would tend to have social media constantly on in the background
constantly monitoring and gaining information.

One respondent expressed that he /she was wary of bombarding followers with
information on social media and so would not spend that much time on it and would
only post something if it is truly relevant rather than posting for the sake it. This
could explain why although respondents did express that social media was being
constantly monitored that they only maybe spent 1- 2 hours actively engaging with
it.
66


One respondent also made the interesting point that his / her organisations social
media presence varies depending on the time of day citing that they find they get
more interaction in the evening rather than during the day and so cater their activity
to this time.

The purpose of Question 3 was examine the impact social media can have on the
environmental movements offline campaigning and activism such as protests and
demonstrations. This question was specifically asked to gain interviewees
perspectives on the views of Bennett (2005, p205-207), highlighted in the Literature
Review, who provides evidence to demonstrate how social media has been used by
activists to coordinate and enhance their offline campaigning as well.

The results here clearly showed that a majority of interviewees did not feel that, on
its own, social media was better at achieving campaign objectives compared to
offline tactics with only 12% of responses demonstrating positive statements in
regard to this viewpoint. 41% of interviewees highlighted negative statements
against the use of social media as a sole campaign tactic however the most
interesting result here was interviewees highlighting how a combined use of both
offline and online tactics could be very successful with almost half of the statements
made suggesting this (47%).

The results here would complement the views of Bennett (2005, p205-207)
demonstrating that organisations within the environmental movement do feel that
social media can be used to good effect in their campaigning however only when
incorporated with traditional offline campaigning.
67


The main points made by those agreeing with the viewpoint expressed in Question 3
included how social media made it easier to recruit new members to their
organisation because the speed of social media made it easier to capture that
moment of engagement and passion which would empower people to want to join
and do something about an issue. It was argued that the old paper based methods of
recruitment would not have captured these moments of engagement and passion as
effectively. This point made would support the views of Brown (2009, p50) who
highlights the very high level of engagement with social media. The ability to
communicate press releases without the editorial filters of traditional media was also
mentioned however this point was addressed separately in Question 5.

The main elements of the arguments presented against the sentiment of Question 3
highlighted again the problem of the echo chamber of engagement on social media.
Interviewees made similar statements like you tend to be preaching to the converted
rather than reaching new audiences and people on Facebook tend to be your own
supporters so you are only really engaging people who already know your message.
When comparing this with the impact of offline actions there was a pattern of
statements that stated how when marching down a street you engage people who
dont know about your campaign and therefore each a more varied demographic.

Donk et al (2004, p18) have stated that, the internet may facilitate the traditional
forms of protest such as rallies, demonstrations, and collection of signatures, but it
will hardly replace these forms. Interestingly once interviewee did not share this
view and stated that social media can actually turn activists into arm chair activists
and is in danger of replacing traditional forms of action rather than promoting them.
68



As stated however 47% of comments pointed to the combined use of offline and
online tactics. One commented highlighted that the online support expressed before a
protest can empower activists during the protest and another highlighted how photos
taken at protests and demonstrations can then be shared online to further galvanise
this support. This was the sentiment of most combined use comments social media
should be used to promote the actions of on the ground activists and shouldnt be
used in isolation.

Question 4 was developed in response to the views of Donk et al (2004, p4) who
believe that environmental organisations can be attractive to younger generations and
so social media should be used to foster this strength because a large demographic
of young people use social media.


The large majority of responses from interviews agreed with the sentiment of the
question being that their organisations use of social media makes it easier to engage
with younger generations compared to offline communication methods. 80% of
responses made give a positive response with 20% offering negative responses.


The reasoning behind this positive majority of responses discussed how many
younger people do not read printed media and so social media is the easiest way of
communicating with them. One interviewee highlighted that this is highly important
because the issue of the environment is directly linked to young peoples futures and
so they are the most important audience that environmental organisations need to be
engaging.

69


The 20% of negative comments didnt necessarily disagree with social media as a
tool to communicate with younger generations. Instead these responses focussed
more on a scepticism of how effective this engagement through social media really is
and is summed up by one response which stated, Im not sure how deep that
connection and engagement with young people really is... but it definitely helps yes.
This seems to be similar to the scepticism of one interviewee in a response to
Question One when he / she highlighted how there is a disconnect between those
who are watching online and those who are actually engaging and getting involved.


Question 5 was motivated by the views of Bennett (2004, p141) in his discussion of
how, New media provide alternative communication spaces in which information
can develop and circulate widely with fewer conventions or editorial filters than in
the mainstream media. It was felt that investigating this idea further, by asking
interviewees if their organisations dependence on traditional media has been
impacted by the growth of social media, would help elaborate on the use of social
media for public relations and press engagement.

Responses from interviewees produced no clear majority of opinion agreeing or
disagreeing with the question however more disagreed (47%) than agreed (29%).
Another 24% of responses gave neutral responses mostly highlighting that social
media has not lessened their dependence on traditional media but has certainly
influenced their use and engagement of traditional media.

This influence social media has had on engagement with traditional media is
highlighted in a number of responses most evident in how journalists from the
70

traditional media are now using Twitter more and more to get information. A number
of responses expressed the importance of this with one response in particular
summing it up well - it is liberating our tweets from that echo chamber.
Interviewees found that traditional media is actually adapting to social media and
they are connecting more and more with journalists online.

29% of responses agreed that social media has lessened their organisations
dependence on traditional media. One interviewee explained that his / her
organisation can find it difficult to gain media attention and so social media can
bypass that block, but despite this would never turn down a media opportunity from
traditional sources of media. Another response highlighted how for many people
social media has now become their primary resource of news and so it makes sense
to follow that trend.

What was interesting in the responses to Question 5 were the similar views of some
interviewees in which they demonstrated a real concern about the lessening influence
of traditional media as a result of social media. One interviewee made a passionate
response about this when stating, Twitter as a tool for journalists? Great! But
Twitter as a replacement for journalists? Disaster! That would be an absolute
disaster for democracy and a disaster for political debate. The reasoning for this
response is that it was the interviewees view that social media contains a lot of
biased and untrained people whereas a journalist is a trained professional who has a
much greater chance of getting it right than activists and people on Twitter who are
just political tourists who can drop in and out. This viewpoint is also shared by
other interviewees, for example one interviewee who states that a press release
71

which makes its way onto the BBC website tends to obtain a sense of gravitas
compared to something posted on Facebook.

Question 6 was aimed at gaining a perspective of interviewees opinion on other
organisations use of social media or if they could improve their own use. The
researcher felt this could expand on the examples of social media used within the
environmental movement and explore certain case studies of individual social media
campaigns which couldnt be properly discussed within the interviewees own
organisations as it could compromise their confidentiality.


The first element of Question 6 asked interviewees to express whether or not their
organisation could better utilise social media and if so in what ways. A majority 67%
of responses indicated that they could better utilise social media with 33%
disagreeing expressing that they were content with their current use of it.


In the responses agreeing with the question some interviewees believed that better
use of Twitter in particular is something they would like to utilise. One response
stated that the echo chamber is less dominant on Twitter than on Facebook and so
there would be more chance of them reaching a larger demographic and reaching
journalists and thus traditional media. The use of live tweeting at their own events
and events they are attending was also mentioned as it is felt that this could better
demonstrate their organisations attendance and participation in events.


A number of statements agreed that social media could be better utilised however it
was more a question of resources, in particular human resources, as to how this could
be addressed. One interviewee pointed to the use of social media of Greenpeace
72

International highlighting how they might have a number of people working on
social full time meaning these could make their use of it more interactive i.e.
answering questions posted by followers on Twitter. The interviewee felt this makes
a campaign much more attractive and would like to see more of this in his / her
organisation however this is unlikely due to the limited resources his / her
organisation has, its about having the people there to make it interactive.


Greenpeace Internationals use of social media was referred to on number of
occasions in response to Question 6, more than any other organisation, and so it
could be suggested that a their use of social media is most admired within the
environmental movement. One interviewee stated that:

The Greenpeace Arctic Campaign is wonderful, it combined everything!
They put the polar bear out in London, traditional media picked it up, people
shared the photographs online and it took off massively... It was a fantastic
duel campaign that shows you what you can do when you have the human
resources to do it.

This response shows how a combination of offline direct action and online social
media can have a very successful result when campaigning as proposed by Bennett
(2005, p205-207).

An interview with Greenpeace was unable to be obtained for this research however a
number of statements on Greenpeaces use of social media have been made by the
organisation. Kumi Naido, Director of Greenpeace International, stated in a CNN
interview on the 24th May 2010 that:
73

We (Greenpeace) learned the power social media has in the hands of an
empowered and active supporter base to create change... Through online
campaigning individuals can move past the media, they can move past
politics, and tell companies directly what they want: We want them to clean
up their act.
(Naido, 2010, online)

This statement clearly demonstrates Greenpeaces confidence in their use of social
media and statements in response to Question 6 clearly shows that they are right to
be confident as there was a sense of admiration from interviewees towards
Greenpeaces use of social media.

Interviewees who disagreed that they could better utilise social media pointed out
how people can fall into a trap of social media in which they would sit on Facebook
all day and miss the whole other aspect of communication such as building your
brand recognition and networking. Another interviewee made a similar point and
stated that he / she feels that within his / her own organisation that it is better to just
work part-time on social media and spend the rest of the time working on more face
to face communication and building relationships.

An interesting observation was made by one interviewee which would suggest that it
is easier for more radical or direct action organisations to utilise social media
compared to more policy and politically driven organisations. This observation was
made when one interviewee was commenting on the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Societies use of social media and stated that:
74


... For them its all about direct action and confrontation. They use social
media to promote this direct action and engage with activists which is an
easier thing to do than trying to promote policy change and change of law
like we do.

What is interesting is that Greenpeace is also very much a direct action organisation
as evident from recent cases of Greenpeace orchestrating a nationwide shut down of
74 Shell petrol stations across the UK (Tuffrey, 2012, Guardian Online). It could be
argued based on this observation of the interviewee, and that most responses to
Question 6 suggested more radical organisations as having better use of social
media, that within the environmental movement the more radical you are the easier it
is to utilise social media.








75

Chapter 6
6.1 Conclusion
This research has provided an insight into the use of social media as a campaigning
tactic or tool within the environmental movement. The research results were based
on the views of professionals within environmental organisations who use social
media regularly as a means to meet the aims and objectives of their organisations.
All of those interviewed gave a clear message that social media has changed and is
still changing the way in which the environmental movement is carrying out
campaigns, actions and activism. A majority of statements and viewpoints expressed
that this change has been positive for the environmental movement and that they feel
social media could be utilized even more to further achieving their campaigning
goals. The results also demonstrate the view that social media is bridging that gap in
engagement with younger generations.
The majority of results did not concur with the view that social media is lessening
the movements dependence on traditional forms of media but they did clearly show
an impact on the way in which traditional media is gathering information, with
journalists now using Twitter more and more.
The results would show that social media is not as effective as offline traditional
tactics, such as direct action, protest and demonstrations. What was highlighted was
that when you combine both social media and the traditional tactics the organisations
interviewed felt social media could then be highly effective. The majority of results
76

demonstrated that social media was not effective in isolation when campaigning.
This viewpoint was demonstrated even further in response to Question 6 when a
number of responses referred to Greenpeaces fantastic duel campaign which
effectively combined online and offline campaigning. Another development was that
the organisations interviewed suggested more radical organisations as having better
use of social media.
6.2 Limitations & Future Research
Even though all participants were professionals within the environmental movement,
using social media daily in their roles, the sample chosen is relatively small with just
one organisation based in Northern Ireland and the other three working on a
European level.
This research would have been much more representative if many more
organisations were interviewed from a global audience taking in organisations within
the environmental movement from a more varied geographic sample which should
be a strong consideration for future studies.
As stated in Chapter 5, the discussion, an interview with Greenpeace International
was not achieved which definitely limited the results especially due the nature of the
results in which a sense of admiration from interviewees towards Greenpeaces use
of social media was clearly evident.
This research focussed on the use of social media by professionals or employees
within the environmental movement and most of the results were relating to social
media as a means to engage activists and promote their activism. For future studies it
would be useful to gain a better perspective on the views of grassroots activists
77

views on the use of social media by the organisations the campaign for. There could
be differences in opinion of what grassroots activists see as good use of social media
compared to that of those within the organisations. A comparative study of these
views could gain valuable insight into the effectiveness of social media for
campaigning. The use of quantitative surveys would be useful here as conducting
qualitative interviews with grassroots activists would be highly time consuming if
the researcher was to gain representative results from an international activist
audience.












78

Appendix 1: Invitation Letters to Participants
Dear
I am writing to request your participation in a study concerning Social Media and the
Environmental Movement as part of an MSc in Political Lobbying & Public Affairs
at the University of Ulster (UU).
The purpose of this study is to consider the benefits or otherwise of social media, in
particular its influence and effectiveness as a campaigning tool for the environmental
movement.
Aims of the project: I plan to
1. To undertake a literature review on the strength and growth of social media,
the use of social media as a lobbying tool and social media use within
different strands of the environmental movement.
2. To compare and contrast the effectiveness of online activism compared to
offline direct action / demonstrations / protests.
3. Explore the impact that social media has had on the traditional mass media
and whether or not this has altered dependence on traditional mass media
within the environmental movement.
4. Carry out semi structured interviews with practitioners from the
environmental movement to discuss their experience of social media as well
as any perceived benefits or otherwise for campaigning and lobbying.

I would like for you to participate in a one-off semi structured interview at your
earliest convenience lasting on average 30 minutes to a maximum of one hour.
79

As I am based in Northern Ireland it would be easier and more eco-friendly to
conduct the interview via telephone or most preferably using Skype.
I f you would be willing to participate please respond to this email.
Your responses will be kept strictly confidential and destroyed on completion of the
research. You and your organisation will not be identified or identifiable in the study
report. A consent form is attached for the interviewee to sign confirming all of this.
This consent form can be signed and posted to me or scanned and emailed.

I will contact you and follow up with email instructions and information in advance
of the interview. Just before I begin the interview I will again confirm the purpose
of the study, format of the interview and benefits of participating. If you are happy at
this stage and fully agreeable to proceeding with the interview, I will invite you to
confirm this by signing the research consent form (attached).

The advantage of the semi-structured format is that it allows a level of flexibility
which enables participants to more fully share their experiences in their own
words. A series of pre-determined open ended questions will be explored during the
interview. The questions are developed from research literature and focus on social
media in respect of your organisations campaigning methods.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at any time. Also if you
would like confirmation of this research on behalf of the University of Ulster you
can contact my supervisor of research Mr Andrew Purcell:

80

Mr Andrew Purcell
Lecturer in Communication
Room 17E07
School of Communication
University of Ulster
Jordanstown Campus
Shore Road
Newtownabbey
Co. Antrim
BT37 OQB

+44 28 90368853
a.purcell@ulster.ac.uk

Thank you for your time.
With best wishes,
Mark McCormick
University of Ulster
Jordanstown










81

Appendix 2: Participant Informed Consent Form
Participant Consent Form

Title of Research Project: Social Media and the Environmental Movement Substituting
the Monkey Wrench for the Keyboard
Name of Researcher: Mark McCormick
I freely and voluntarily consent to be a participant in the above titled research project to be
conducted by Mark McCormick a postgraduate student at the University of Ulster. I have
been asked to participate in a one to one interview and I understand that I will be asked
questions concerning my knowledge and experience of social media and perceived benefits
or otherwise for campaigning and lobbying. The interview will last a maximum of one hour.
1. I confirm that I have read and understood the aims of this research project


2. I have been given the opportunity to ask questions, and any questions I have
raised have been satisfactorily answered.

3. I agree to the audio-taping of the interview. In addition I have been informed
that the data will be stored electronically and securely and will be destroyed on
completion of the research. I understand that I will receive a copy of the final
research document.

4. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw
at any time without giving any reason and without negative consequences. In
addition, should I not wish to answer any particular question or questions,
I am free to decline.

5. I understand that my responses will be kept strictly confidential. I have been
assured that my name or organisation will not be linked with the research
materials and I will not be identified or identifiable in any report subsequently
produced by the researcher.
82

6. I have been provided with the contact details of the key people involved in
this study.

I agree to take part in the above research project. My signature is not a waiver of any legal
rights. I understand that I will be able to keep a copy of the informed consent form for my
records


________________________ ________________ ____________________
Name of Participant Date Signature

_________________________ ________________ ____________________
Name of Researcher Date Signature











83

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