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Twenty-Four Years of Digital Activism: A Bibliometric Analysis of Trends and Future Directions

Year 2025, Volume: 18 Issue: 1, 180 - 202, 15.04.2025

Esra Tani Yıldız

https://doi.org/10.18094/josc.1568707

Abstract

Dijital aktivizm, yeni medya teknolojileriyle birlikte iletişim disiplinine dahil olan ve son yirmi yılda en çok yayın üretilen alanlardan biri olmuştur. Bu çalışma, dijital aktivizmin küresel eğilimini yayıncılar, atıflar ve ülkeler arası iş birliği temelinde incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Web of Science Core Collection veri tabanında dijital aktivizmle ilgili 2000 yılından Mart 2024'e kadar olan veriler çekilmiş ve R Studio kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmanın bulgularına göre dijital aktivizmle ilgili 1476 tekil yazarın 524 farklı dergide 907 araştırma makalesi yayımladığı belirlenmiştir. Bulgular, dijital aktivizmle ilgili araştırmaların ağırlıklı olarak Batı Avrupa ve Amerika dergilerinde yayınlandığını göstermekte ve ülkeler ve bölgeler bazında çeşitlilik eksikliğini ortaya koymaktadır. Alanda en çok atıf yapılan yazarlar ve yayınlar da ağırlıklı olarak ABD'den olup Asya, Afrika ve Türkiye’nin de içinde olduğu Orta Doğu ülkelerinde çalışmaların oldukça sınırlı kaldığı anlaşılmıştır. SCP oranının tüm yayıncı ülkelerde MCP oranından daha yüksek olması, dijital aktivizm araştırmacılarının uluslararası işbirliği yerine kendi ülkelerinden yazarlarla işbirliği yapmayı tercih ettiğini göstermektedir. Bu çalışma alanındaki yıllık büyüme oranı ise %10'dur. En çok atıf alan çalışmalar mikroblog sitelerinden veri toplamış ve içerik analizi tekniklerini kullanmıştır. Sonuçlar, disiplinler arası entegrasyonunun ve gelişmekte olan ülkelerin alana katkılarının artırılması gerekliliğini vurgulamaktadır.

Keywords

Dijital Aktivizm Dijital Medya Bibliyometrik Analiz Bibliometrix Yeni Medya Çalışmaları

References

  • Alingasa, A. P., & Ofreneo, M. (2021). Fearless, powerful, Filipino: Identity positioning in the hashtag activism of #BabaeAko. Feminist Media Studies, 21(4), 587–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2020.1791927
  • Alsharif, A. H., Salleh, N., & Baharun, R. (2020). Research trends of neuromarketing: A bibliometric analysis. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 98(15), 2948-2962.
  • Baer, H. (2016). Redoing feminism: Digital activism, body politics, and neoliberalism. Feminist Media Studies, 16(1), 17-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2015.1093070
  • Balan, V., & Dumitrica, D. (2024). Technologies of last resort: The discursive construction of digital activism in Wired and Time magazine, 2010–2021. New Media & Society, 26(9), 5466-5485. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221135886
  • Bennett, L. W., & Segerberg, A. (2012). The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), 739-768. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2012.670661
  • Bhatia, K. V. (2022). The revolution will wear burqas: Feminist body politics and online activism in India. Social Movement Studies, 21(5), 625-641. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2021.1944850
  • Bonilla, Y., & Rosa, J. (2015). #Ferguson: Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States. American Ethnologist, 42(1), 4-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.12112
  • Brimacombe, T., Kant, R., Finau, G., Tarai, J., & Titifanue, J. (2018). A new frontier in digital activism: An exploration of digital feminism in Fiji. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, 5(3), 508-521. https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.253
  • Brown, M., Ray, R., Summers, E., & Fraistat, N. (2017). #SayHerName: A case study of intersectional social media activism. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(11), 1831-1846. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1334934
  • Castells, M. (2012). Networks of outrage and hope: Social movements in the internet age. Polity Press.
  • Cherry, E. (2006). Veganism as a cultural movement: A relational approach. Social Movement Studies, 5(2), 155-170. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742830600807543
  • Derviş, H. (2019). Bibliometric analysis using Bibliometrix an R package. Journal of Scientometric Research, 8(3), 156-160. https://doi.org/10.5530/jscires.8.3.32
  • Donthu, N., Kumar, S., Mukherjee, D., Pandey, N., & Lim, W. M. (2021). How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, (133), 285-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.070 Earl, J., & Kimport, K. (2011). Digitally enabled social change: Activism in the internet age. The MIT Press.
  • Ellegaard, O. (2018). The application of bibliometric analysis: Disciplinary and user aspects. Scientometrics, 116(1), 181-202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2765-z
  • Freelon, D. (2018). Computational research in the post-API age. Political Communication, 35(4), 665–668. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2018.1477506
  • George, J. J., & Leidner, D. (2019). From clicktivism to hacktivism: Understanding digital activism. Information and Organization, 29(3), 1-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2019.04.001
  • Gerbaudo, P., & Treré, E. (2015). In search of the ‘we’ of social media activism: Introduction to the special issue on social media and protest identities. Information, Communication & Society, 18(8), 865-871. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.104331
  • Gök Demir, Z., Erendağ Sümer, F., & Karakaya, Ç. (2020). A bibliometric analysis of public relations models. Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences, (58), 105-132. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST2020-0015
  • Ince, J., Rojas, F., & Davis, C. (2017). The social media response to Black Lives Matter: How Twitter users interact with Black Lives Matter through hashtag use. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(11), 1814-1830. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.133493
  • Jackson, S. J., & Foucault Welles, B. (2016). #Ferguson is everywhere: Initiators in emerging counterpublic networks. Information, Communication & Society, 19(3), 397–418. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1106571
  • Joyce, M. (2010). Digital activism decoded: The new mechanics of change. IDEBATE Press.
  • Kahn, R., & Kellner, D. (2004). New media and internet activism: From the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to Blogging. New Media & Society, 6(1), 87-95. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444804039908
  • Karatzogianni, A. (2015). Firebrand waves of digital activism 1994–2014. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Kaun, A., & Uldam, J. (2018). Digital activism: After the hype. New Media & Society, 20(6), 2099-2106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817731924
  • Kristofferson, K., White, K., & Peloza, J. (2014). The nature of slacktivism: How the social observability of an initial act of token support affects subsequent prosocial action. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(6), 1149-1166. https://doi.org/10.1086/6741
  • Méndez, M. (2020). Climate change from the streets: How conflict and collaboration strengthen the environmental justice movement. Yale University Press.
  • Nas, A. (2022). “Women in mosques”: Mapping the gendered religious space through online activism. Feminist Media Studies, 22(5), 1163-1178. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.1878547
  • Negrón-Gonzales, M. (2016). The feminist movement during the AKP era in Turkey: Challenges and opportunities. Middle Eastern Studies, 52(2), 198-214. https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2015.1125339
  • Neumayer, C., & Svensson, J. (2016). Activism and radical politics in the digital age: Towards a typology. 22(2), 131-146. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856514553395
  • Nip, J. Y. (2004). The queer sisters and its electronic bulletin board: A study of the internet for social movement mobilization. Information, Communication & Society, 7(1), 23–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118042000208889
  • Ohme, J., Araujo, T., Boeschoten, L., Freelon, D., Ram, N., Reeves, B. B., & Robinson, T. N. (2023). Digital trace data collection for social media effects research: APIs, data donation, and (screen) tracking. Communication Methods and Measures, 18(2), 124–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2023.2181319
  • Özkula, S. M. (2021). What is digital activism anyway? Social constructions of the “digital” in contemporary activism. Journal of Digital Social Research, 3(3), 60-84. https://doi.org/10.33621/jdsr.v3i3.44
  • Paleker, G. (2020). “These things happen”: Hashtag activism and sexual harassment in the South African film and television industries. Agenda, 34(1), 40-47. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2020.1720162
  • Sivitanides, M., & Shah, V. (2011). The era of digital activism. Conisar Proceedings, Conference for Information Systems Applied Research, North Carolina, USA, 1-8.
  • Sullivan, J. (2014). China’s Weibo: Is faster different? New Media & Society, 16(1), 24-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444812472966
  • Suwana, F. (2020). What motivates digital activism? The case of the Save KPK movement in Indonesia. Information, Communication & Society, 23(9), 1295-1310. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1563205
  • Tani, E. (2019). Ağ toplumunda sokak aktivizminden dijital aktivizme geçiş. H. Boztepe Taşkıran ve M. Mengü (Eds.), Dijital Aktivizm Üzerine (s. 1-31). Der Yayınları.
  • Tani, E., & Boztepe Taşkıran, H. (2018). Çevreci sivil toplum kuruluşlarının dijital aktivizm faaliyetlerine yönelik bir araştırma. İletişim Kuram ve Araştırma Dergisi, (47), 524-546.
  • Xiong, Y., Cho, M., & Boatwright, B. (2019). Hashtag activism and message frames among social movement organizations: Semantic network analysis and thematic analysis of Twitter during the #MeToo movement. Public Relations Review, 45(1), 10-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.10.014
  • Yang, Y. (2022). When positive energy meets satirical feminist backfire: Hashtag activism during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Global Media and China, 7(1), 99-119. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364211021316
  • Yu, Y., & Huang, J. (2021). Poverty reduction of sustainable development goals in the 21st century: A bibliometric analysis. Frontiers in Communication, (6), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.754181

Twenty-Four Years of Digital Activism: A Bibliometric Analysis of Trends and Future Directions

Year 2025, Volume: 18 Issue: 1, 180 - 202, 15.04.2025

Esra Tani Yıldız

https://doi.org/10.18094/josc.1568707

Abstract

This study aims to examine global research trends in the field of digital activism by analyzing publication outputs, co-citations, co-occurrences, and collaborations among countries. Data from 2000 to March 2024 were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection database and analyzed using R Studio. A total of 1,476 unique authors published 907 papers across 524 journals. The findings indicate that research on digital activism is predominantly published in Western European and American journals, highlighting a lack of diversity in terms of countries and regions. Most of the cited authors and publications originate from the United States. The rate of single-country publications (SCP) is higher than that of multi-country publications (MCP) in all publishing countries, suggesting that authors of digital activism prefer to collaborate with colleagues from their own countries. The annual growth rate in this area is 10%. The most cited studies collected data from microblogging sites and employed content analysis techniques. Our results outline the current state of research and emphasize the necessity of integrating various disciplines while also acknowledging the contributions of developing countries for future advancements.

Keywords

Digital Activism Digital Media Bibliometric Analysis Bibliometrix New Media Studies

Ethical Statement

This study was conducted as a bibliometric study for the analysis of published articles. The study did not involve human subjects, and therefore did not require approval from an Institutional Review Board or informed consent.

References

  • Alingasa, A. P., & Ofreneo, M. (2021). Fearless, powerful, Filipino: Identity positioning in the hashtag activism of #BabaeAko. Feminist Media Studies, 21(4), 587–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2020.1791927
  • Alsharif, A. H., Salleh, N., & Baharun, R. (2020). Research trends of neuromarketing: A bibliometric analysis. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 98(15), 2948-2962.
  • Baer, H. (2016). Redoing feminism: Digital activism, body politics, and neoliberalism. Feminist Media Studies, 16(1), 17-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2015.1093070
  • Balan, V., & Dumitrica, D. (2024). Technologies of last resort: The discursive construction of digital activism in Wired and Time magazine, 2010–2021. New Media & Society, 26(9), 5466-5485. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221135886
  • Bennett, L. W., & Segerberg, A. (2012). The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), 739-768. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2012.670661
  • Bhatia, K. V. (2022). The revolution will wear burqas: Feminist body politics and online activism in India. Social Movement Studies, 21(5), 625-641. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2021.1944850
  • Bonilla, Y., & Rosa, J. (2015). #Ferguson: Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States. American Ethnologist, 42(1), 4-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.12112
  • Brimacombe, T., Kant, R., Finau, G., Tarai, J., & Titifanue, J. (2018). A new frontier in digital activism: An exploration of digital feminism in Fiji. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, 5(3), 508-521. https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.253
  • Brown, M., Ray, R., Summers, E., & Fraistat, N. (2017). #SayHerName: A case study of intersectional social media activism. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(11), 1831-1846. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1334934
  • Castells, M. (2012). Networks of outrage and hope: Social movements in the internet age. Polity Press.
  • Cherry, E. (2006). Veganism as a cultural movement: A relational approach. Social Movement Studies, 5(2), 155-170. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742830600807543
  • Derviş, H. (2019). Bibliometric analysis using Bibliometrix an R package. Journal of Scientometric Research, 8(3), 156-160. https://doi.org/10.5530/jscires.8.3.32
  • Donthu, N., Kumar, S., Mukherjee, D., Pandey, N., & Lim, W. M. (2021). How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, (133), 285-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.070 Earl, J., & Kimport, K. (2011). Digitally enabled social change: Activism in the internet age. The MIT Press.
  • Ellegaard, O. (2018). The application of bibliometric analysis: Disciplinary and user aspects. Scientometrics, 116(1), 181-202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2765-z
  • Freelon, D. (2018). Computational research in the post-API age. Political Communication, 35(4), 665–668. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2018.1477506
  • George, J. J., & Leidner, D. (2019). From clicktivism to hacktivism: Understanding digital activism. Information and Organization, 29(3), 1-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2019.04.001
  • Gerbaudo, P., & Treré, E. (2015). In search of the ‘we’ of social media activism: Introduction to the special issue on social media and protest identities. Information, Communication & Society, 18(8), 865-871. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.104331
  • Gök Demir, Z., Erendağ Sümer, F., & Karakaya, Ç. (2020). A bibliometric analysis of public relations models. Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences, (58), 105-132. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST2020-0015
  • Ince, J., Rojas, F., & Davis, C. (2017). The social media response to Black Lives Matter: How Twitter users interact with Black Lives Matter through hashtag use. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(11), 1814-1830. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.133493
  • Jackson, S. J., & Foucault Welles, B. (2016). #Ferguson is everywhere: Initiators in emerging counterpublic networks. Information, Communication & Society, 19(3), 397–418. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1106571
  • Joyce, M. (2010). Digital activism decoded: The new mechanics of change. IDEBATE Press.
  • Kahn, R., & Kellner, D. (2004). New media and internet activism: From the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to Blogging. New Media & Society, 6(1), 87-95. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444804039908
  • Karatzogianni, A. (2015). Firebrand waves of digital activism 1994–2014. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Kaun, A., & Uldam, J. (2018). Digital activism: After the hype. New Media & Society, 20(6), 2099-2106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817731924
  • Kristofferson, K., White, K., & Peloza, J. (2014). The nature of slacktivism: How the social observability of an initial act of token support affects subsequent prosocial action. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(6), 1149-1166. https://doi.org/10.1086/6741
  • Méndez, M. (2020). Climate change from the streets: How conflict and collaboration strengthen the environmental justice movement. Yale University Press.
  • Nas, A. (2022). “Women in mosques”: Mapping the gendered religious space through online activism. Feminist Media Studies, 22(5), 1163-1178. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.1878547
  • Negrón-Gonzales, M. (2016). The feminist movement during the AKP era in Turkey: Challenges and opportunities. Middle Eastern Studies, 52(2), 198-214. https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2015.1125339
  • Neumayer, C., & Svensson, J. (2016). Activism and radical politics in the digital age: Towards a typology. 22(2), 131-146. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856514553395
  • Nip, J. Y. (2004). The queer sisters and its electronic bulletin board: A study of the internet for social movement mobilization. Information, Communication & Society, 7(1), 23–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118042000208889
  • Ohme, J., Araujo, T., Boeschoten, L., Freelon, D., Ram, N., Reeves, B. B., & Robinson, T. N. (2023). Digital trace data collection for social media effects research: APIs, data donation, and (screen) tracking. Communication Methods and Measures, 18(2), 124–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2023.2181319
  • Özkula, S. M. (2021). What is digital activism anyway? Social constructions of the “digital” in contemporary activism. Journal of Digital Social Research, 3(3), 60-84. https://doi.org/10.33621/jdsr.v3i3.44
  • Paleker, G. (2020). “These things happen”: Hashtag activism and sexual harassment in the South African film and television industries. Agenda, 34(1), 40-47. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2020.1720162
  • Sivitanides, M., & Shah, V. (2011). The era of digital activism. Conisar Proceedings, Conference for Information Systems Applied Research, North Carolina, USA, 1-8.
  • Sullivan, J. (2014). China’s Weibo: Is faster different? New Media & Society, 16(1), 24-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444812472966
  • Suwana, F. (2020). What motivates digital activism? The case of the Save KPK movement in Indonesia. Information, Communication & Society, 23(9), 1295-1310. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1563205
  • Tani, E. (2019). Ağ toplumunda sokak aktivizminden dijital aktivizme geçiş. H. Boztepe Taşkıran ve M. Mengü (Eds.), Dijital Aktivizm Üzerine (s. 1-31). Der Yayınları.
  • Tani, E., & Boztepe Taşkıran, H. (2018). Çevreci sivil toplum kuruluşlarının dijital aktivizm faaliyetlerine yönelik bir araştırma. İletişim Kuram ve Araştırma Dergisi, (47), 524-546.
  • Xiong, Y., Cho, M., & Boatwright, B. (2019). Hashtag activism and message frames among social movement organizations: Semantic network analysis and thematic analysis of Twitter during the #MeToo movement. Public Relations Review, 45(1), 10-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.10.014
  • Yang, Y. (2022). When positive energy meets satirical feminist backfire: Hashtag activism during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Global Media and China, 7(1), 99-119. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364211021316
  • Yu, Y., & Huang, J. (2021). Poverty reduction of sustainable development goals in the 21st century: A bibliometric analysis. Frontiers in Communication, (6), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.754181
There are 41 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Communication and Media Studies (Other)
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Esra Tani Yıldız 0000-0002-4427-325X

Publication Date April 15, 2025
Submission Date October 16, 2024
Acceptance Date February 25, 2025
Published in Issue Year 2025 Volume: 18 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Tani Yıldız, E. (2025). Twenty-Four Years of Digital Activism: A Bibliometric Analysis of Trends and Future Directions. Selçuk İletişim, 18(1), 180-202. https://doi.org/10.18094/josc.1568707
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