The social media profile of the Black Lives Matter movement
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology looked at nearly 29 million tweets surrounding four recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) events to identify the social media patterns of its activists. They found that the community is unlike many other social movements because of its ability to bond over the course of many months. More than a third of those who participated via social media for the first time continued their participation during the next BLM event. The study also found being from a state with historically high rates of black victimization due to police violence, especially in the South and Midwest, was linked to peoples' response on social media even if the state wasn't the scene of the current BLM event. The researchers also found a change in tone on Twitter the day before protests sprung up around the nation.