Distributed for Intellect Ltd
Understanding Video Activism on Social Media
How social media videos shape today’s political engagement and activism.
What political power do social media videos have? In what ways do they exert influence, shape public discourse, and change political life? How can participants in this field assert themselves against commercial interests, anti-democratic agitation, and authoritarian propaganda? These questions are being debated intensely as social media increasingly dominates global information flows, and videos increasingly dominate social media.
The forms, practices, and opportunities of activism depend on a media environment that is changing rapidly and profoundly in terms of its technological basis, ownership, legal regulations, and governmental control. This makes the act of understanding video activism even more relevant at a time when the internet is undergoing fundamental disruptions.
What political power do social media videos have? In what ways do they exert influence, shape public discourse, and change political life? How can participants in this field assert themselves against commercial interests, anti-democratic agitation, and authoritarian propaganda? These questions are being debated intensely as social media increasingly dominates global information flows, and videos increasingly dominate social media.
The forms, practices, and opportunities of activism depend on a media environment that is changing rapidly and profoundly in terms of its technological basis, ownership, legal regulations, and governmental control. This makes the act of understanding video activism even more relevant at a time when the internet is undergoing fundamental disruptions.
250 pages | 6.69 x 9.61 | © 2025
Education: Education--General Studies
Political Science: Urban Politics
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
- Introduction: The Power of Video Activism
- The Media Logics of Video Activism: Frames, Forms and Platforms
- Political Contexts and Frames of Video Activism
- Common Forms and Types of Activist Videos
- The System of Social Media Platforms
- The Platform System in the Age of the Splinternet
- How to Outsmart Platforms: The Most Boring Viral Video
- Trajectories of Video Activism: Past and Present
- Demanding Representation, Criticising Capitalism
- Participation and a Voice of One’s Own
- Political Aesthetics
- The Role of Media Technology in the History of Video Activism
- Videos Everywhere: Between Empowerment and Disillusionment
- The Impact of Political Videos: Attention, Affect, Action
Pathways to Impact
Competing for Attention, Overcoming Obstacles
Image Wars in the Discourse on Migration
Political Emotions and the Different Audiences of Activism
- Activist Video Strategies: From Creation to Networking
- Video Aesthetics and Spreadability: A Variety of Effective Forms
- The Dynamics of Distribution: Networked Attention and Emergent Narratives
- General Video Strategies in the Climate Crisis Discourse
- A Case of Strategic Provocation: Rezo’s Destruction of the CDU
- The Diversity of Video Activists: Practices and Communities
- Small Media Collectives: Committed and Counterpublic
- Fig. 11: Leftvision: Welcome to Hell – Polizei zerschlägt G20-Demo in Hamburg 2017 (‚Police Smashes G20 Demonstration in Hamburg‘, Germany 2017)
- Influencer Networks: Hybrid and Hypervisible
- Large NGOs: Established and Evolving
- Hashtag Movements: Polyphonic and Unpredictable
- Embracing the Diversity of Video Activism
- Video Activism and the Public Sphere: Creating Counterpublics
- Publics and Counterpublics
- Creating Counterpublics: The Case of Black Lives Matter
- Expanding the Democratic Public Sphere
- Video Activism in Times of Upheaval: Towards Diversity in Solidarity
- Video Activism at War: Changing Contexts, Shifting Roles
- Video Activism under Pressure
- A Plea for Diversity in Solidarity
Films and Videos
Bibliography