#Climatestrike: An exploration of digital activism on twitter as a soft power tool in the call for climate action

• Main Authors: Agusto, Chantrea Kiana Louise B., Lucero, Patricia Anne A., Gesilva, Gabrielle Louise G., Cordeta, Prudencio Timothy S., III
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Internet and activism; Social media; International and Area Studies; Social Media
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_intlstud/9; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=etdb_intlstud
• Institution: De La Salle University

In recent times, there has been a trend toward maximizing cyberspace, especially when it comes to mobilization. While Digital Activism is not a new concept and has already steadily been gaining traction—the COVID-19 pandemic greatly accelerated the use of this mode of activism. During the continuous lockdowns at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, people were pushed toward the online sphere and different forms of social media were used as means of communication. As climate change continues to worsen and becomes a threat to humanity, digital protests that call for justice and climate action were also intensified, through the initiation of various organizations even with limited mobilization. This qualitative study explores and assesses how Digital Activism mobilizes collective action and how it’s able to generate soft power toward the call for climate action. Eight (8) digital campaigns from Twitter were analyzed: #ClimateCrisis, #LetTheEarthBreathe, #ClimateStrike, #UprootTheSystem, #FridaysForFuture, #ClimateActionNow, #BreakFreeFromPlastic, and #BreatheLife. All of the gathered data from participants are checked individually and found to be from different parts of the world. Hence, these campaigns do not necessarily represent a regional scope. Moreover, Five (5) themes were identified as the outcomes of the digital campaigns for global climate action: movement building, modifying dominant narratives, changing corporate behavior, local transformation, and policy work. The research concludes that Digital Activism is a helpful tool when it comes to aiding different movements toward addressing climate change—given that it provides a platform that organizational groups utilize as a way to reach more people and even address governments, world leaders, and other powerful actors such as corporations. The emergence of digital technologies has affected the environmental movement people through modern-day technologies were given an open space like Twitter, which expedites the process of sharing and cultivating information across the globe. Thus, making environmental campaigns more accessible to almost everyone, paving the way to connect to a wider audience. Moreover, this paper identified real-life outcomes from the initiated collective actions, which then fostered an evident change in different parts of the world. Furthermore, this research also extends the literature on redefining soft power, climate change, and climate action.