increasing awareness , “[…] over 270 cities around the globe began to coordinate school strike held every Friday ”( ibid , p . 428 ). This development can therefore be seen as the beginning of a huge solidarity movement . Ever larger mass protests took place with a largenumber of studentsas well as other supporters . Among other things , their success was marked by “[…] the growing mistrust of Western societies in their leadership that increased even more rapidlyafter the refugeecrisis in 2015 ” ( ibid , p . 429 ).
Furthermore , “[…] viral news images […]” in connection with this topic “[…] shook the European population ” among which a lot of peopleunder 30 years that “[…] started to doubt the ability of willingness of their political leaders to act ” ( Beckh & Limmer , 2021 , p . 430 ). In addition , natural disasters have also increased as a result of the climate crisis . Thus , 2018 was “[…] the year with the worst forest fires in history ” ( ibid ).
All these factorsplayed a crucialrole in the development of the movement . However , the digital domain also played an important role in dissemination , mobilization and communication . For this reason , it is important to explain how the Fridays for Future movement has used social media for their concerns in recent years .
Utilization of social media
The use of social mediaand social mediaplatforms was crucialfor the movementfrom its very beginning . Therefore , activists organized “[…] themselves through local WhatsApp chats , sharing their political environment opinions while recruiting like-minded people to join the strikes ” ( Beckh & Limmer , 2021 , p . 428 ). This networking happened primarily due to the majority of its young members , because “ the World Wide Web allows young people […] to connect differently from the ways their parentsand grandparents could ” ( ibid , p . 429 ). Thus , they could “[…] exchange personal experiences and knowledge in another technological manner and at different speeds ” ( ibid ). This digitalization of the movement enabled it to gain worldwide popularity rapidly from the outset .
One of the central platforms used by the Fridays for Future movement is Twitter ( Sainz & Hanna , 2023 , p . 120 ). A platform that allows users to post and interact with short messages called tweets . This platform is utilized to share tweets that are “[…] often related to upcoming strikes , or urgent calls for action on pressing issues ” ( Torvik , 2022 , p . 55 ). Due to its rapid dissemination of statements and its proximity to journalists and politicians , the platform is favored by the movement ( ibid ). In addition to this central platform , others like Snapchat or TikTok were also utilized by them ( cf . Sainz & Hanna , 2023 , p . 120 ). TikTok , in particular , was used to publish short videos regarding the climatecrisis , such as protest excerpts , environmental disasters , or general speeches to members , society and politics .
Another central platform used by the Friday for Future movement for sharing and connecting is Instagram ( Brünker , Deitelhoff & Mirbabaie , 2019 , p . 305 ). This platform primarily focuses on sharing photos , videos and direct messaging . Members of the movement used these
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