The Digital Evolution of Occupy Wall Street

TL;DR

This study analyzes how digital communication related to Occupy Wall Street evolved over fifteen months on Twitter, revealing patterns of user engagement, interests, and social connectivity changes.

Contribution

It provides a detailed temporal analysis of online activity and user engagement patterns in the Occupy Wall Street movement using Twitter data.

Findings

Highly interconnected users with pre-existing political interests dominated early engagement.

User interest in Occupy-related communication declined over time.

Participation was concentrated among a core group of vocal users.

Abstract

We examine the temporal evolution of digital communication activity relating to the American anti-capitalist movement Occupy Wall Street. Using a high-volume sample from the microblogging site Twitter, we investigate changes in Occupy participant engagement, interests, and social connectivity over a fifteen month period starting three months prior to the movement's first protest action. The results of this analysis indicate that, on Twitter, the Occupy movement tended to elicit participation from a set of highly interconnected users with pre-existing interests in domestic politics and foreign social movements. These users, while highly vocal in the months immediately following the birth of the movement, appear to have lost interest in Occupy related communication over the remainder of the study period.