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

摘要

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.