Social media as an orchestration tool for activism on Redditc : r/wallstreetbets and the wall street crash

Abstract

In recent years, the use of social media as a tool for orchestrating activism has yielded a variety of social outcomes such as the #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo movement, shedding light on the power of online activism and participatory culture. However, outside of fundraising and donations, financial gain has never been seen as an incentive for online activists until January 2021, when users on the popular social media platform, Reddit, were able to achieve a substantial monetary gain in the GameStop Short Squeeze without the use of any physical protests or marches. Through utilising a qualitative research design and examining Reddit, this study aims to understand the evolving nature of social media usage as an orchestration tool for activism, focusing on how the r/wallstreetbets subreddit helped investors drive up GameStop shares amidst the attempts by hedge funders to lower prices - whose aim was to make larger profits from shorting the stock. Gatekeeping theory and the role new media plays in the production and exclusion of information, along with Active-Audience Theory, the participatory nature of users in online spaces and their active involvement with topical financial movements shall assist in shedding light on the activity that unfolded on Reddit, leading up to the events of the crash, will be addressed in this paper. This was a desktop research paper. Drawing on Shoemaker & Vos’s (2009) gatekeeping theory and the role new media plays in the production and exclusion of information, along with Katz & Foulkes’ (1962) active-audience theory.