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Affordances of social media in collective action: the case of Free Lunch for Children in China

Affordances of social media in collective action: the case of Free Lunch for Children in China
Affordances of social media in collective action: the case of Free Lunch for Children in China
This paper studies the socialised affordances of social media in the processes of collective action, exploring the role of technology in the under-researched area of civil society. We examine the case of Free Lunch for Children (FL4C), a charitable programme in China based on the microblogging platform, Weibo. Adopting the perspective of affordances-for-practice, we draw upon the collective action model to better understand the sociomaterial practices and social processes involving social media, and seek to address the ‘when’ and ‘how’ questions of affordances. The study generates theoretical and practical implications for understanding the role of social media in social transformation.
1350-1917
289-313
Zheng, Yingqin
7bd87c4a-d900-456f-bf9a-26cde9562d17
Yu, Ai
0c59d45f-7d68-4e4b-88a4-1333fe30a49d
Zheng, Yingqin
7bd87c4a-d900-456f-bf9a-26cde9562d17
Yu, Ai
0c59d45f-7d68-4e4b-88a4-1333fe30a49d

Zheng, Yingqin and Yu, Ai (2016) Affordances of social media in collective action: the case of Free Lunch for Children in China. Information Systems Journal, 26 (3), 289-313. (doi:10.1111/isj.12096).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper studies the socialised affordances of social media in the processes of collective action, exploring the role of technology in the under-researched area of civil society. We examine the case of Free Lunch for Children (FL4C), a charitable programme in China based on the microblogging platform, Weibo. Adopting the perspective of affordances-for-practice, we draw upon the collective action model to better understand the sociomaterial practices and social processes involving social media, and seek to address the ‘when’ and ‘how’ questions of affordances. The study generates theoretical and practical implications for understanding the role of social media in social transformation.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 11 October 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 26 January 2016

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 504358
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/504358
ISSN: 1350-1917
PURE UUID: f59619f0-269b-4079-b71a-17814b1915a4

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Date deposited: 08 Sep 2025 16:43
Last modified: 08 Sep 2025 16:43

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Contributors

Author: Yingqin Zheng
Author: Ai Yu

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