05Jul 2019

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE POLITICAL PROTEST: THE CASE OF SHAHBAGH MOVEMENT.

  • Lecturer, Department of International Relations, Faculty of Security and Strategic Studies, Bangladesh University of Professionals.
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In the twenty first century, the social media as a powerful tool has connected people from every walk of life around the world. This medium is no longer just used for communicating with friends and family rather it is creating a bridge among people living in the farthest corners of the globe. This study examines the influence of social media in terms galvanizing public support to organize a political protest that took place in Shahbagh, Bangladesh. While a plethora of literature have studied the massive impacts of the movement in the wider society but the role of social media in triggering the protest is largely missing. By applying the strength of weak-ties theory propounded by Granovetter, this paper argues that the popular social media platform like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube played a key role in terms of building the micro?macro bridges among the public that ultimately fostered social mobilization and hence, collective action for social movement.

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[Robayt Khondoker, Meherun Nesa, Bulbul Ahmed. (2019); THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE POLITICAL PROTEST: THE CASE OF SHAHBAGH MOVEMENT. Int. J. of Adv. Res. 7 (Jul). 420-429] (ISSN 2320-5407). www.journalijar.com

Md. Robayt Khondoker, Meherun Nesa and Bulbul Ahmed
Department of International Relations, Bangladesh University of Professionals

DOI:

Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/9377      
DOI URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/9377

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