The Social Media Basis of Youth Protest Behavior The Case of Chile

Journal of Communication ISSN 0021-9916
ORI GI NAL ARTI CLE

The Social Media Basis of Youth Protest
Behavior: The Case of Chile
Sebasti an Valenzuela
1
, Arturo Arriagada
2
, & Andr es Scherman
2
1 School of Communications, Ponticia Universidad Cat olica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
2 School of Journalism, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile
Protest activity has become a central means for political change in Chile. We examine
the association between social media use and youth protest, as well as mediating and
moderating mechanisms of this relationship, using survey data collected in Chile in 2010.
We found that Facebook use was associated signicantly with protest activity, even after
taking into account political grievances, material and psychological resources, values, and
news media use. The link between overall Facebook use and protest activity was explained
by using the social network for news and socializing rather than when it was used for
self-expression. Postmaterialist values and political ideologies were not found to moderate
the association between Facebook use and protest.
doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01635.x
Public demonstrations, boycotts, and other forms of protest are normal forms of
achieving political change for citizens in mature democracies (Dalton, Sickle, &
Weldon, 2009; Meyer & Tarrow, 1998). The same is not true for those who live
in countries that experienced the Third Wave of democratization in the 1970s
and 1980s. For them, disillusionment with the performance of democratic regimes
led to a decline in protest behavior (Inglehart & Catterberg, 2002). Spain, Greece,
and Portugal, however, have witnessed an increase in protest activity in the past
few years. Protest activity in Chile increased to the point that the New York
Times dubbed 2011 the year of the Chilean Winter as previous apathetic groups
began demanding wholesale changes in education, the environment, and energy
policy (Barrionuevo, 2011). High school and college students have been the most
vocal and successful so far, channeling on the streets and online the publics
discontent with the free-market policies that made Chile an economic model for
the region. By the end of 2011, polls put public opinion support for the student
movement at an astounding 79% (Adimark GfK, 2011).
Political action movements in Third Wave democracies have had three elements
in common: the dominant role of youth; the absence of political parties as the main
Corresponding author: Sebasti an Valenzuela; e-mail: savalenz@uc.cl
Journal of Communication 62 (2012) 299314 2012 International Communication Association 299
The Social Media Basis of Youth Protest Behavior S. Valenzuela et al.
organizers; andthe widespreaduse of social media as means of political action(Kulish,
2011; Z uquete, 2011). It is the latter trend, of course, that is most interesting from
a communication perspective. Considering their disengagement from conventional
politics, the key role played by youth is also noteworthy.
We examine the role of social media use as it relates to youth protest behavior as
means of political change. We also map out the processes by which this relationship
takes place through the analysis of mediating mechanisms. Lastly, we elaborate on
the contingent conditions under which social media can become pivotal for protest
behavior by examining the moderating role of postmaterialist values and ideologies.
To do so, we analyze data from a representative survey of Chilean urban youth that
measures protest activity, social network site use, and a host of other factors known
to be related to protest.
We focus on Chile because, in contrast with social movements in North America
and Europe, public protest in Chile has been quite successful at accomplishing legal
and policy changes. After briey describing the Chilean experience, we review the
literature on youth political engagement and social media, paying particular attention
to protest activity and social network sites, and posit specic hypotheses about the
relationship between protest behavior and Facebook, the dominant social network
site in Chile.
The Chilean experience
Chile has been portrayed as Latin Americas greatest success story ever since Chile
returned to a democracy in 1990, following General Augusto Pinochets 17-year
dictatorship. High levels of economic growth, successful social policies, low levels
of corruption, and a prudent management of the political and macroeconomic
processes have led the country to become a model of steady transition to democratic
rule (Mainwaring & Scully, 2008; Valenzuela & Arriagada, 2011). Prosperity has
also allowed the country to lead the region in terms of technology adoption.
Currently, nearly 60% of the population uses the Internet, a proportion that climbs
to 86% among those in the 1824 age group (World Internet Project-Chile, 2010).
Nevertheless, disparities in terms of income and other factors remain high in Chile.
For instance, in national math tests, the performance of primary school students
from the richest fth of the population is one-third better than those of the poorest
fth (Blackboard battle, 2010). Most importantly, following Ingleharts (1997)
value change predictions, the process of economic modernization has also translated
into making inequality less acceptable in the face of public opinion. In 1990, only
16% of Chileans completely agreed with the statement: Incomes should be made
more equal. By the year 2000, that proportion grew twice, to 33.5% (World Values
Survey, 2000). The Chilean context thus combines successful development with high
socioeconomic inequalityand growing unrest as a result. Younger citizens have
led the social movements against this state of affairs and, in spite of being disengaged
from electoral politics, have taken their calls for a better quality of education and
protection of the environment both online and ofine.
300 Journal of Communication 62 (2012) 299314 2012 International Communication Association
S. Valenzuela et al. The Social Media Basis of Youth Protest Behavior
It is in this particular context that Sebasti an Pi nera defeated the candidate of the
center-left Concertaci on coalition, which ruled for 2 decades, in the 2010 elections
and became president in March of that year. Despite low unemployment rates and
high economic growth, in his rst 2 years as head of state Pi nera has confronted
massive youth-led protests over educational policies and the environment. While
these issues have led to street protests in the past, these protests were novel both for
their success and their use of social media (Planas, 2011).
A case in point was the August 2010 protest against the Barrancones power plant
which would have closed a marine reserve that holds 80% of the world population of
Humboldt penguins. In the two days following the environmental agencys approval
of the project, 118 Facebook Groups against Barrancones were created, whichtogether
garnered more than 25,700 Likes and 177,450 Fans (Garca & Torres, 2011). At
the same time, 3,000-plus citizenscoordinated via Facebook and, to a lesser degree,
Twittermarched to the presidential palace in Santiago, demanding Pi nera to fulll
his campaign promise that no power plants would be built in environmentally
sensitive areas. The next day after, Pi nera announced that he had overridden the
agencys approval and personally asked the company to relocate the plant.
Barrancones, though telling, was not an isolated manifestation of the newChilean
protest movement. In January 2011, a series of citizen-led protests in Magallanes,
the countrys southernmost region, against a 17% rise in the price of natural gas
prices forced the government to sack the Energy ministry, limit the increase to just
3%, and give out new subsidies to 17,000 poor families. The public outrage against
hydroelectric dams in Chilean Patagonia, in May 2011, along with the actions led
by environmental groups and legislators, paralyzed the project. And in June 2011,
massive student demonstrations in Santiago and other cities led the government to
launch a full-blown educational reform with more than $4 billion in fresh public
funds. The governments decision that same month to start tracking Facebook
and Twitter to listen to what citizens have to say (Matamoros, 2011)and the
ensuing controversy it triggered over peoples right to privacy on the Internetonly
reinforced the growing role of social media in protest activity in Chile.
Youth, participation, and online media
Young people in Chile, as in other parts of the world, typically exhibit low rates
of political participation. Between 1988 and 2009, turnout in the 1829 age group
decreased from 35% to less than 9%. Low electoral engagement may reects changes
in the conceptualization and practice of citizenship as the old dutiful citizen is
replaced by the new self-actualizing citizen (Bennett, 2008; Dalton, 2008). The
former is oriented toward traditional forms of political participation, such as voting,
while the latter opts for civic action through community work, unconventional
political activities, and digitally mediated forms of political expression. While the
normative implication of these changes is contested (Graber, 2004), it is clear that
digital media now plays a major role among younger citizens (Owen, 2006; Park,
Kee, & Valenzuela, 2009; Raynes-Goldie & Walker, 2008).
Scholarly debates regarding the relationship between these tools and the type of
political behavior in which young people engage continue to evolve. Strong contrasts
between the so-called cyberoptimists and cyberpessimists (Norris, 2000; Xenos &
Moy, 2007), have given way to more nuanced perspectives in which the effects of
online media are seen to be contingent upon the specic ways in which people use
digital platforms and the sociopsychological characteristics of users. In other words,
the effects of online technologies on youth engagement are mediated by specic
uses (e.g., informational vs. entertainment) and moderated by individuals political
psychology and background (Bimber, 2001; Shah, Rojas, & Cho, 2009).
Taking into account these considerations, the meta-analysis conducted by Bou-
lianne (2009) using U.S. data found no evidence to suggest that using online services
was related to political disengagement. On the contrary, exposure to informational
content online was positively associated to participation. In the case of Chilean
youth, separate cross-sectional analyses have found a strong link between using
online platforms, including news sites and social network sites, on political and civic
participation (Scherman & Arriagada, 2010; Scherman, Arriagada, & Valenzuela,
2011). These results are also consistent with studies conducted in other countries
(e.g., Bakker & de Vreese, 2011).
Social media use for protest
Social network sites have several affordances for promoting participation, particularly
protest behavior among youth. They facilitate access to a large number of contacts,
thereby enabling social movements to reach critical mass (Marwell & Oliver, 1993).
By allowing multiple channels for interpersonal feedback, peer acceptance, and
reinforcement of group norms, these sites also promote the construction of personal
and group identities that are key antecedents of protest behavior (Dalton et al., 2009).
Social network sites function as information hubs that allow users to remain in
contact and exchange updates regarding their activities with others that share their
interests. Those who belong to social movements and political groups can thus build
relationships with one another, receive mobilizing information that they may not
obtain elsewhere, thus expanding their opportunities to engage in political activities
(Gil de Z u niga & Valenzuela, 2011; Kobayashi, Ikeda, & Miyata, 2006). Lastly, social
media are effective means for social interaction. Finding a basis for conversation
and social communication, connecting with family, friends, and society, and gaining
insight into the circumstances of othersall these factors can instill in young people
interest in collective issues (Valenzuela, Kim, & Gil de Z u niga, 2011).
Bakardjieva (2009) coined the term subactivism to analyze the relationship
between individuals agency and their everyday political behavior in nontraditional
political contexts. For her,
Subactivism involves a variety of inconspicuous processes such as identity
construction through subject positioning vis-` a-vis social and political discourses
and relations, friendenemy distinction and identication with collective
formations, discursive re-enactment of debates and clashes with a political frame
of reference in the private sphere (everyday political talk), as well as practical
actions and choices regarding matters of daily living that have wider social and
political resonance. (Bakardjieva, 2011, p. 4)
Social network sites therefore emerge as resources that may create the kinds of
collective experiences that are necessary conditions for successful protest movements.
Having grown up with digital media, young people may be especially drawn to these
collective experiences and the newforms of citizenship they entail (Bennett, 2008). In
light of young Chileans lack of interest in traditional politics, as reected in their low
turnout in elections, examining their use of social media may amplify and organize
their protest behavior.
These considerations lead us to hypothesize that there is a positive relationship
between Facebook use and protest behavior (H1). Frequent Facebook users are more
likely to protest because they engage in activities that are essential for collective action,
such as learning information, exchanging and forming opinions about social issues,
and constructing a common identity. Thus, it is likely that the link between Facebook
use and political activity is explained by users motivations and the particular way
in which the site is used. We therefore hypothesize that the relationship between
Facebook use and protest behavior is mediated by the extent to which the site is used
for news consumption, expressing opinions, and socializing with peers (H2).
Postmaterialism and ideology as moderators
There is reason to suspect that individuals cultural and political values may amplify
or dampen the effects of social media on political activity. Work on modernization
and value change theory, for example, argues that economic development leads to the
diffusion of postmaterialist values that promote self-expression and elite-challenging
behavior (Inglehart, 1997; Inglehart & Welzel, 2005). Furthermore, because ones
values tendtobe formedby late adolescence, there are markedgenerational differences
in individuals political goals and behaviors. Thus, having been raised during a long
period of steady economic growth and relative prosperityat least by historical
termsshould make Chilean youth more likely to hold postmaterialist values and
thereby more likely to protest instead of engaging in traditional electoral behavior.
At the same time, the participatory and outspoken nature of social media could make
the use of these sites more consistent with the spirit of emancipation and disrespect
for traditional authority that characterizes postmaterialism.
Links between social network sites and protest behavior may also depend on users
particular political ideology. Those at the left of the ideological spectrum are more
likely to resort to protest as part of their political toolkit (Dalton et al., 2009). For
example, issues such as public education and the environment are strongly associated
with the left in Chile. There is some overlap between caring for postmaterialist values
and the issues that people associate with social democrats and other leftist groups
(Inglehart & Welzel, 2005). Thus, we hypothesize that the relationship between
Facebook use and protest behavior will be stronger for individuals with a leftist
ideology and with postmaterialist values (H3).
Method
Sample and procedures
Data were collected in a survey of individuals aged 1829 living in Chiles three largest
urbanareas: greater Santiago, Valparaso-Vi na del Mar, andConcepci on-Talcahuano.
Approximately 43.2% of the total population of the country lives in these three areas.
The School of Journalismat Universidad Diego Portales and Feedback, a professional
polling rm, collaborated in a multistage probability sample stratied by urban area.
Within each urban area the sample was allocated proportionally by communes and
within communes by the number of blocks. For each randomly selected block, ve
households were randomly selected to obtain a list of adult residents aged 1829. In
the last stage, one eligible youth from each household selected was randomly drawn
for a face-to-face interview. The nal sample of 1,000 represented an 80%completion
rate. Interviews were conducted between 27 August and 10 September 2010.
Measures
Protest behavior
Protests can take a variety of forms, ranging from signing petitions to boycotts,
including unofcial strikes and even violent activities. Because illegal protest activities
tendto be quite infrequent inChile, we focusedonactivities that represent a transition
between conventional and unconventional modes of political behavior, as well as
direct action techniques, all of which are legal. Specically, protest behavior was
measured by asking respondents if they had engaged in the following activities in
the past 12 months: attended public demonstrations (14% of respondents), attended
political forums and debates (11%), signed a petition to authorities (12%), and
participated in meetings with authorities (8%). Positive responses were summed
(range: 04) to create a protest index.
Facebook use
Both general and specic Facebook use was assessed. The general assessment involved
rst asking respondents if they had a registered account on Facebook, and then asking
those that did (85%) how often they used it: (a) every day, more than once a day;
(b) every day, once a day; (c) at least three times a week; (d) once a week; (e) two or
three times a month; and (f) once a month or less.
Three specic types of uses were also assessed. First, to measure Facebook as a
channel for news, respondents were asked to estimate how many hours on a typical
day they used social network sites for watching, reading or listening to news. Second,
Facebook use as a means for self-expression was gauged by asking respondents
whether on a typical day they use the site for contacting friends and acquaintances;
chatting; and expressing an opinion on personally relevant issues. These three
items were added to create a single scale of use of Facebook for self-expression
(Cronbachs = .77). Finally, respondents were asked to report whether they had
used Facebook to plan parties, create event invitations, and conrm assistance with
events. Afrmative answers to these items were summed to create an index covering
Facebooks use for social life ( = .80). Correlations among the three measures of
specic Facebook uses were modest, suggesting that they could be treated as relatively
independent measures. Specically, Facebook use for news was correlated at .17
(p < .001) with Facebook for self-expression and at .23 (p < .001) with Facebook
for social life, while the latter two were correlated at .30 (p < .001).
Grievances
Dissatisfaction as a causal agent of protest activity can take many forms. In this
study, we considered two types of grievances, economic and political. The former
was gauged with the following item: Has the economic situation of the country
improved, stayed the same, or worsened? Negative economic evaluations were
coded higher. Political dissatisfaction, in turn, was measured with two variables. A
scale of condence in public institutions (Cronbachs = .63) was computed from
questions asking how much trust respondents had in political parties, the justice
system, their districts representative to Congress, and their local government or
municipality. Responses were recorded using a 4-point scale, with 1 =nothing and
4 =a lot. Government responsiveness was gauged with a single item about how
much the respondent believes his or her actions inuence the decisions made by
government ofcials. More trusting and responsive responses were coded with higher
values.
Values
The inuence of political and cultural values on protest behavior was operationalized
using two variables. For ideology, respondents were invited to place themselves on
a 10-point scale ranging from left-wing to right-wing. An index of postmaterialist
values was constructed by asking respondents if they believed that (a) protecting
the environment should be a priority, even if it diminishes economic growth and
increases unemployment; (b) economic growth is fundamental for democracy to
work (reversed); and (c) making discrimination against minorities punishable by law
is fundamental for democracy to work. Responses for all three items were dummy
coded 0 for no and 1 for yes. Because this variable was computed as an index, rather
than a scale, internal consistency via Cronbachs alpha was not computed.
Resources
Individuals material, psychological, and social resources have been shown to be
strongly associated with protest behavior (Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995).
Members of dominant groups (e.g., male, rich, and college-educated) are more
likely to participate in protests because they have more time and perhaps greater
communicative and organizational abilities. Having a stronger interest in political
matters can also increase the likelihood of being motivated to join protests. From a
social perspective, individuals are more likely to be recruited into political activities,
including protest activities, if they are members of groups such as unions, NGOs, and
professional organizations. Furthermore, organizations can provide an institutional
context supportive of political action. These different sets of political resources
were included in the current study as statistical controls. The respondents gender
was dummy coded, with males coded higher. Education was operationalized as the
highest level of formal education completed.
1
Political interest was measured as a
scale averaging respondents level of interest in: (a) Chilean politics and (b) staying
informed about important political affairs ( = .87). Both items were coded using
a 5-point scale ranging from 1 =not interested to 5 =very interested. Membership
in civic groups was a counter tapping involvement in activities of organizations
related to: (a) assisting the poor; (b) protecting the environment; (c) student groups;
(d) defending consumers rights; (e) preserving public spaces; and (f) defending
reproductive and sexual rights.
News media use
To measure the level of exposure to political information and public affairs, respon-
dents estimated how many hours on a typical day they used four different types of
media: television news, radio news, print newspapers, and online publications.
Results
Because protest behavior was assessed as a count, the hypotheses were tested with
Poisson regression models.
2
The variables representing grievances, values, resources,
and news media use were entered simultaneously with Facebook variables, so as to
isolate the unique relationship between using Facebook and protest behavior, holding
all other variables constant.
3
Mediation and moderation analyses, respectively, were
conducted to test the second and third hypotheses. Independent variables were
normalized to a 0 to 1 range before entering them into the Poisson models to
facilitate comparison of the regression coefcients.
4
As predicted (H1), there was a positive relationship between Facebook use
and protest behavior (Table 1). Holding everything else equal, respondents with a
Facebook account engaged in more protest activities than respondents without a
Facebook account (b = .47, p < .01), with an average score in the protest index
of .34 versus .21, a 60% difference. For those with a Facebook account, using the
online social network more often was also related to higher levels of protest behavior
(b = .47, p < .05). In substantive terms, and holding all other variables constant at
their means, respondents who log in to Facebook several times a day scored .40 in
the measure of protest behavior, while those who did so once a week scored .30, a
nearly 35% difference.
Consistent with previous research, resources were key predictors of protest
behavior, particularly membership in civic groups. Individuals with higher interest in
political affairs as well as those who spent more time reading newspapers and online
Table 1 Poisson Regressions Predicting Protest Behavior
Total Sample Those with a Facebook Account
B (SE) B (SE)
Grievances
Negative economic evaluations 0.16 (0.14) 0.20 (0.15)
Condence in public institutions 0.52
(0.24) 0.58
(0.25)
Government responsiveness 0.25
(0.15) 0.19 (0.16)

Values
Right-wing ideology 0.63
(0.18) 0.54
(0.18)
Postmaterialist values 0.21 (0.21) 0.26 (0.22)
Resources
Male 0.14 (0.09) 0.11 (0.10)
Education 0.17 (0.32) 0.05 (0.33)
Political interest 1.10
(0.15) 1.08
(0.16)
Membership in civic groups 2.04
(0.16) 1.93
(0.17)
News Media
TV news exposure 0.69
(0.37) 0.70
(0.40)
Radio news exposure 0.02 (0.21) 0.01 (0.22)
Newspaper exposure 0.55
(0.23) 0.74
(0.25)
Online news exposure 1.00
(0.32) 0.98
(0.34)
Social network site use
With a Facebook account 0.47
(0.17)
Frequency of Facebook use 0.47
(0.21)
Likelihood ratio
2
447.40
369.53
Pseudo-R
2
(%) 46.3 43.0
N 940 810
Note: Cell entries are Poisson regression coefcients with standard errors in parentheses.
p < .10.

p < .01.

p < .001.
news were more likely to engage in protest. Among grievance effects, lack of trust
in political institutions was the most important driver of protest behavior. Those
with a left-leaning orientation were far more likely to join protests than those with a
right-leaning orientation.
We had also hypothesized (H2) that the positive relationship between Facebook
use and protest was explained by three activities performed on the network:
news consumption, expressing opinions, and socializing with peers. To test these
mediating relationships, we estimated a path model in which frequency of Facebook
use was predictive of all three activities on Facebook, while these activities, in turn,
were predictive of protest. The results of the estimation are displayed in Figure 1,
showing statistically signicant paths only (full results are displayed in Table 2).
As could be expected, using Facebook more frequently meant engaging in all three
of the Facebook activities considered more frequently as well. Most importantly,
using Facebook for news (b = .51, p < .05) and socializing (b = .52, p < .001) was
0.52***
(0.14)
0.51*
(0.24)
0.34***
(0.05)
0.22***
(0.03)
0.07**
(0.02)
Frequency of
Facebook use
Facebook
for news
Facebook for
self-expression
Facebook for
social life
Protest
behavior
Figure 1 Path model of Facebook use and protest behavior.
Note. Paths are Poisson regression coefcients with standard errors in parentheses (see Table 2
for further details). Only statistically signicant paths are displayed.
p < .10.

p < .01.

p < .001.
positively associated with protest levels. Although Facebook for opinion expression
was not a signicant predictor of protest (b = .16, ns) once all other variables were
taken into account, the three Facebook activities included in the model fully mediated
the direct effects of general Facebook use on protest. This conclusion stems from the
signicant drop in the magnitude of the direct effect of Facebook use on protest (from
b = .47, p < .05 [reported in the last column of Table 1] to b = .23, ns). Thus, in line
with the hypothesis, there was sufcient evidence that mediation was indeed taking
place.
Finally, we examined the association between protest activity and series of
interactions between Facebook use and political ideologies and postmaterialist
values, separately for the total sample and among those with a Facebook account.
Each of these interactions was anticipated to be signicant, indicating a greater
engagement in protest activities among people who were left-leaning and/or held
postmaterialist values (H3). The coefcients displayed in Table 3 offered no support
for this hypothesis. The only signicant interaction was between ideology and
frequency of Facebook use, but it was in the opposite direction of what had been
predicted. The relationship between Facebook use and protest behavior was not
contingent upon political and/or cultural values in this study.
Discussion
This article contributes to our understanding of the role of social network sites
in political change in developing democracies. Our analysis of Facebook use and
protest behavior among 1829 year olds in Chile demonstrated that having a
Facebook account and using it frequently were positively and signicantly related
to participation in protests, even after taking into account other known sources
of this type of political action. Controlling for grievances, values, resources, and
Table 2 Poisson Regressions for Mediation Analysis of Facebook Use on Protest Behavior
Facebook
for News
Facebook for
Self-expression
Facebook for
Social Life
Protest
Behavior
B (SE) B (SE) B (SE) B (SE)
Grievances
Negative economic
evaluations
0.03 (0.02) 0.01 (0.02) 0.05 (0.04) 0.27 (0.15)
Condence in public
institutions
0.04 (0.03) 0.11
(0.04) 0.01 (0.07) 0.60
(0.25)
Government
responsiveness
0.01 (0.02) 0.01 (0.03) 0.08 (0.09) 0.25 (0.17)
Values
Right-wing ideology 0.04 (.03) 0.03 (0.03) 0.05 (0.05) 0.49
(0.18)
Postmaterialist values 0.02 (0.03) 0.03 (0.03) 0.03 (0.06) 0.28 (0.22)
Resources
Male 0.01 (0.01) 0.01 (0.01) 0.12
(0.03) 0.06 (0.10)

Education 0.01 (0.04) 0.25
(0.05) 0.09 (0.09) 0.07 (0.34)

Political interest 0.03 (0.02) 0.01 (0.02) 0.09
(0.04) 1.02
(0.15)
Membership in civic
groups
0.07
(0.03) 0.05 (0.03) 0.26
(0.06) 1.78
(0.17)
News media
TV news exposure 0.02 (0.05) 0.06 (0.06) 0.08 (0.11) 0.58 (0.40)
Radio news exposure 0.18
(0.03) 0.10
(0.03) 0.06 (0.06) 0.10 (0.23)

(0.03) 0.04 (0.04) 0.19
(0.07) 0.66
(0.25)
(0.05) 0.05 (0.06) 0.12 (0.10) 0.84
(0.34)
Frequency of
Facebook use
0.07
(0.02) 0.22
(0.03) 0.34
(0.05) 0.23 (0.22)

Facebook for news 0.51
(0.24)
Facebook for
self-expression
0.16 (0.26)
Facebook for social life 0.52
(0.14)
Likelihood ratio
2
110.77
102.96
153.39
394.24
Pseudo-R
2
(%) 12.3 11.4 17.0 47.1
N 810 810 810 810
p < .10.

p < .01.

p < .001.
news media use, the strength of this relationship was comparable to the inuence of
political distrust and leftist ideology on triggering elite-challenging political behavior.
It should be noted, however, that factors such as political interest and membership
in civic groups were more closely related to protest. Facebook use is thus a signicant
tool for youth activism, but by no means the only or even necessarily the most
important one. This is good news in our view because it would be quite troubling
Table 3 Two-Way Interactions Between Facebook Use, Values, and Ideology
Total Sample
Those With a
Facebook Account
B (SE) B (SE)
Grievances
Negative economic evaluations 0.15 (0.14) 0.19 (0.15)
Condence in public institutions 0.55
(0.24) 0.57
(0.25)
Government responsiveness 0.25
(0.15) 0.19 (0.16)

Values
Right-wing ideology 2.52
(0.76) 0.96 (0.66)

Postmaterialist values 0.66 (0.77) 0.25 (0.74)
Resources
Male 0.11 (0.09) 0.11 (0.10)
Education 0.21 (0.32) 0.05 (0.33)
Political interest 1.10
(0.15) 1.07
(0.16)
Membership in civic groups 2.04
(0.16) 1.94
(0.17)
News media
TV news exposure 0.72
(0.37) 0.73
(0.40)
Radio news exposure 0.02 (0.21) 0.01 (0.22)
(0.23) 0.73
(0.25)
(0.32) 0.98
(0.34)
With a Facebook account 0.61 (0.55)
Frequency of Facebook use 0.08 (0.67)
Interactions
With a Facebook Account Values 0.92 (0.79)
With a Facebook Account Ideology 2.01
(0.78)
Frequency of Facebook Use Values 0.65 (0.93)
Frequency of Facebook Use Ideology 0.51 (0.79)
Likelihood ratio
2
454.47
370.28
Pseudo-R
2
47.4 43.2
N 940 810
p < .10.

p < .01.

p < .001.
if young adults protest behavior was determined by a single technological platform
such as Facebook.
What people did with Facebook mattered as well. Using Facebook for news
and socializing with peers was associated with increased participation in protests,
but using it for self-expression was not. These results are consistent with previous
work showing that the informational and social interactive uses of media can lead
to participatory behaviors, while entertainment uses can drive people away from
collective action (Shah et al., 2009). These ndings also indicate that Facebook can
successfully allow youth to interweave the private world of family, friends, and
personal life with the public sphere of politics, social movements, and protests, in line
with subactivist practices (Bakardjieva, 2009). Both as a technology and as a space
where people mediate their political interests, Facebook is a resource for creating
a collective agency. Furthermore, by illustrating how Facebook serves multiple
functions, including surveillance, social integration, and deliberative practice, our
ndings counter simple notions of technological determinism.
Considering Chiles economic development and the diffusion of postmaterialist
values among youth, as manifested by students demands around quality-of-life
issues like education and the environment, we expected that the mobilizing potential
of Facebook would be particularly salient for users who share postmaterialist or
leftist political values. However, this was not the case, perhaps suggesting that
individuals need not share a particular cultural or political outlook to benet from
the participatory potential of the online network site.
Online tools such as Facebook are not so much creating new forms of protest as
amplifying traditional forms of protest, such as street demonstrations. Inother words,
activism does not conne itself to separate online and ofine spheres, but instead
online interactions can aid ofine forms of citizen participation. Governments and
political parties, in turn, must take into account what is available on social network
sites as they gauge public opinion and knowledge. The positive links between
Facebook use and protest behavior reported here represent both an opportunity
and a challenge. On the one hand, social network sites seem to reduce the costs of
collective action, enabling citizens to organize themselves more easily and to voice
their concerns more publicly. On the other, there is the risk of furthering inequality if
the population of social media users is skewed toward the technologically savvy and
those with high human, social, and economic capital.
Although our study was conducted a year earlier from the massive student-led
protests that put Chile in the headlines worldwide in 2011, the ndings reported
here provide some clues to understand the surprising impact of the student-led
protests. Political grievances, leftist orientations, political interest, and participation
in civic groups were all found to be strong predictors of protest activity. It is safe
to assume that all of these attributes are more likely to characterize college-bound
youth than other segments of Chilean society, and thus it should not come as
a surprise that students have led the current movement for economic and social
reform. On the other hand, the unique contribution of social network site use for
protest that was extensively probed with 2010 data suggests that growth in usage of
these platforms between 2010 and 2011 could be related to an increase in protest
behavior.
Despite the new insights shed by this study, the analysis has several limitations.
By employing survey data, we are constrained to self-reports of protest activity
and Facebook use, which may yield inaccurate measures due to social desirability
bias. Although Facebook is the dominant social network site in Chile, our ndings
are limited to a single social network application. Additional research is needed to
produce more detailed ndings that extend across a range of social media. Although
a number of factors could be controlled statistically, the cross-sectional nature of
our data limits our ability to infer causal relationships. Limitations notwithstanding
our study provides an initial foundation for research on the role of social media and
protest behavior in consolidating democracies.
Notes
1 Income was excluded from the analysis because it was found to be highly collinear with
education (r = .44). When replacing income for education in the multivariate analysis,
the results were the same as those reported in the results section.
2 To ensure that Poisson regression was appropriate, negative binomial models were
estimated and contrasted with the Poisson specications. In all cases, the dispersion
coefcient of the negative binomial models was insignicant.
3 We calculated correlations between all the independent variables used in the regressions
to check for collinearity. Nearly all were relatively uncorrelated (mean r = .07, median
r = .04).
4 Descriptive statistics of all variables and replication data are available from the rst
author upon request.
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Sebastin Valenzuela

Arturo Arriagada
Andrs Scherman
Diego Portales

2010
Facebook Facebook
Facebook
Lancrage dans les mdias sociaux des comportements de protestation des jeunes : le cas du Chili
Sebastin Valenzuela, Arturo Arriagada & Andrs Scherman
La protestation est devenue un moyen central de changement politique au Chili. Nous examinons
lassociation entre lutilisation des mdias sociaux et la protestation des jeunes, ainsi que les
mcanismes de mdiation et de modration de cette association, en utilisant des donnes
denqute recueillies au Chili en 2010. Nous avons dcouvert que lutilisation de Facebook tait
associe de faon significative aux activits de protestation, mme une fois que les dolances
politiques, les ressources matrielles et psychologiques, les valeurs et lutilisation des mdias
dinformation sont prises en compte. Le lien entre lutilisation de Facebook et les activits de
protestation tait plus fort quand Facebook tait utilis pour les nouvelles et la socialisation que
quand il ltait pour lexpression individuelle. Les valeurs postmatrialistes et lidologie
politique nont pas modr lassociation entre lutilisation de Facebook et les protestations.

Mots cls : protestation, jeunesse, Facebook, mdias sociaux, participation politique, Chili
Soziale Medien als Basis jugendlichen Protestverhaltens: Der Fall Chile

Protestaktivitten sind in Chile ein wichtiges Mittel, politische Vernderungen
herbeizufhren. Wir untersuchen den Zusammenhang zwischen der Nutzung sozialer Medien
und J ugendprotesten, sowie die Mediator- und Moderator-Mechanismen fr diesen
Zusammenhang und nutzen dafr Umfragedaten, die 2010 in Chile erhoben wurden. Wir
fanden heraus, dass die Nutzung von Facebook signifikant mit Protestaktivitten
zusammenhing und das dieser Zusammenhang auch dann noch Bestand hatte, wenn politische
Nte, materielle und psychische Ressourcen sowie Werte und Nutzung von
Nachrichtenmedien kontrolliert wurden. Die Beziehung zwischen Facebook-Nutzung und
Protestaktivitt war dann strker, wenn es fr Nachrichten und Sozialbeziehungen
Verwendung fand und nicht fr die Eigendarstellung genutzt wurde. Postmaterialistische
Werte und politische Ideologie moderierten die Beziehung zwischen Facebook-Nutzung und
Protest nicht.

Schlsselbegriffe: Protest, J ugendliche, Facebook, soziale Medien, politische Partizipation,
Chile
:
Sebastin Valenzuela
Catholic University of Chile
Arturo Arriagada and Andrs Scherman
Diego Portales University

. 2010
,
.
, , ,
.
,
.
.
La Base del Comportamiento de Protesta de la J uventud en los Medios Sociales: El Caso
de Chile
Sebastin Valenzuela
Catholic University of Chile
Arturo Arriagada and Andrs Scherman
Diego Portales University
Resumen

La actividad de protesta se ha convertido en central para el cambio poltico en Chile.
Examinamos la asociacin entre el uso de los medios sociales y la protesta de la
juventud, as como tambin los mecanismos de mediacin y moderadores de esta
relacin, usando una encuesta de datos colectada en Chile en el 2010. Encontramos que
el uso de Facebook fue asociado significativamente con la actividad de protesta, an
despus de haber tenido en consideracin las quejas polticas, los recursos materiales y
sicolgicos, los valores y el uso de las noticias de los medios. Esta conexin entre el uso
de Facebook y la actividad de protesta fue ms fuerte cuando fue usado para las noticias y
para socializar que para cuando fue usado como auto-expresin. Los valores pos-
materiales y la ideologa poltica no fueron encontrados que moderen la asociacin entre
el uso de Facebook y la protesta.

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