The Internet and Web 2.0 have created novel forms of collective action and political participation, the dynamics of which have attracted considerable scholarly attention. E-petitioning, a genre of technology-based collective action tools, makes it possible for members of the public to address government decision makers directly with their requests for policy-related action. In this paper we explore the effects of Twitter, other forms of online media, and television news broadcasts on the accumulation of signatures in e-petitioning. We analyze the case of “Bring Back Our Girls,” a Change.org petition initiated in spring 2014 following the abduction of 276 young female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria by heavily armed members of the Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group. The petition targeted government leaders around the world. We found evidence that tweets and certain forms of online media, together with cable news items, are related to the likelihood of individuals to sign an e-petition. The results provide evidence in support of a hybrid media system in which diverse forms of media behave with diverse logics and impacts in their effects on e-petitions.

互联网和 Web 2.0 创造了新的集体行动和政治参与形式，其动态引起了学术界的广泛关注。乙-请愿是一种基于技术的集体行动工具，使公众可以直接向政府决策者提出政策相关行动的请求。在本文中，我们探讨了 Twitter、其他形式的在线媒体和电视新闻广播对电子请愿中签名积累的影响。我们分析了“带回我们的女孩”的案例，这是在 2014 年春季发起的 Change.org 请愿书，此前尼日利亚博尔诺州奇博克政府女子中学的 276 名年轻女学生被全副武装的博科圣地成员绑架，一个伊斯兰极端组织。请愿书针对世界各地的政府领导人。我们发现证据表明推文和某些形式的在线媒体，连同有线新闻项目，与个人签署电子请愿书的可能性有关。结果提供了支持混合媒体系统的证据，在该系统中，不同形式的媒体行为具有不同的逻辑和影响其对电子请愿的影响。