This study examines the relationship between online social media use and protest participation during the Arab Spring, pro-democracy movements that swept across vast parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). What role did online communication media play in individual decisions to participate in these high-risk political activities? We address this question by drawing on microdata from the Arab Barometer Wave III (2012–2014), a large cross-national survey of citizens nested in administrative divisions across a dozen Muslim-majority countries. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we investigate the multilevel associations between online activities and the likelihood of getting involved in anti-government protests. Adjusting for individual- and regional-level confounders, as well as country fixed effects, we find that online political activism specifically, rather than Internet and social media use in general, is associated with higher odds of protest involvement during the Arab uprisings. In addition, we find that the positive linkage between individual online activism and protest is weaker in communities with a higher proportion of politically cyberactive residents.

中文翻译：

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从虚拟空间到公共空间：阿拉伯之春期间网络政治激进主义在抗议参与中的作用

本研究调查了阿拉伯之春（席卷中东和北非（MENA）广大地区的民主运动）期间在线社交媒体的使用与抗议参与之间的关系。在线传播媒体在个人参与这些高风险政治活动的决策中扮演了什么角色？我们通过利用阿拉伯晴雨表第三波（2012-2014 年）的微观数据来解决这个问题，这是一项对嵌套在十几个穆斯林占多数国家的行政区划中的公民的大型跨国调查。使用分层线性模型，我们调查了在线活动与参与反政府抗议的可能性之间的多级关联。调整个人和区域层面的混杂因素，以及国家固定效应，我们发现，在阿拉伯起义期间，尤其是在线政治激进主义，而不是一般的互联网和社交媒体使用，与更高的抗议参与几率有关。此外，我们发现在具有较高政治网络活跃居民比例的社区中，个人在线激进主义与抗议之间的正相关关系较弱。