Reporting revolution: Technological determinism in journalistic reports on social media and movements

Abstract

Articles, editorials, newspapers and magazines’ reporting on the use of social media during the Egyptian revolution, the Syrian uprising and the London riots can be understood by subdividing them into three themes and arguments which encompass their own sequential logic: technological imperative, technological specificity and unintended consequences. This paper describes each sequential logic and posits that within these arguments specificity and use are conflated, leading to an idealised and conventionalised view of social media.