Digital Activism in Portugal: Strategies for Communication and Social Mobilization

Abstract

In recent years, several social movements have emerged on the international scene, some of which have a global reach, in part due to the digital environment, and in particular to social media. Digital activism describes different forms of activism that use digital technology and it has gained importance, as it enables users, activists and institutions to share content that has the potential to reach a very significant number of people. It is against this backdrop that this research was developed. Our main objective is to contribute to the understanding of how digital activism works in Portugal, in particular how activist organizations use digital media to communicate with their audiences. We try to understand whether these communication channels really represent an added value to publicize the mission, causes, campaigns and work carried out by the institutions, and if they can effectively mobilize the members of the public, so that they participate in activist actions proposed and organized by the institutions.