Communication battles on Facebook in Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement and Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement

Abstract

Many have suggested that communication on social media could mobilize participation in social movements. Often overlooked is the use of social media communication by opponents of social movements to counteract the change advocated. Collecting data from the Facebook Graph API, this study examines both types of communication on public pages of Facebook in the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong and the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan in 2014. It analyzes the content of public messages (1,389 from Hong Kong and 999 from Taiwan) collected on 10 pro- and neutral/anti-movement pages in each movement to study the framing process of the movements in the flow of communication. Changes in frames from posts to comments and then replies provide evidence of frame contestation, which are discussed in terms of counter-framing by counter-movements in online social networks. This is the first comparative study of communication in social movements of Hong Kong and Taiwan.