Why do Facebook and Twitter facilitate revolutions more than TV and radio?
Abstract
A distinctive feature of recent revolutions was the key role of social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). In a simple model we assume that while social media allow to observe all previous decisions, mass media only give aggregate information about the state of a revolt. We show, first, that when individuals' willingness to revolt is publicly known, then both sorts of media foster a successful revolution. However, when willingness to revolt is private information, only social media ensure that a revolt succeeds, with mass media multiple outcomes are possible. This suggests that social media enhance the likelihood that a revolution triumphs more than traditional mass media.Download Info
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Paper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number 33496.Length:
Date of creation: 19 Sep 2011
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:33496
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Related research
Keywords: social media; mass media; revolution; coordination game; sequential games;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances
- D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, and Operations
- C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2011-10-01 (All new papers)
- NEP-BEC-2011-10-01 (Business Economics)
- NEP-CTA-2011-10-01 (Contract Theory & Applications)
- NEP-CUL-2011-10-01 (Cultural Economics)
- NEP-SOC-2011-10-01 (Social Norms & Social Capital)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Chwe, Michael Suk-Young, 2000. "Communication and Coordination in Social Networks," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(1), pages 1-16, January.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Alfonso Rosa García & Hubert Janos Kiss, 2012.
"Coordination structures,"
Working Papers. Serie AD
2012-12, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
- Rosa-García, Alfonso & Kiss, Hubert Janos, 2011. "Coordination structures," MPRA Paper 30463, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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