Activating the Sisterhood: A Structural and Temporal Analysis of Sustained Connective Action in #MeTooIndia

We study the important issue of temporality in social media-enabled new forms of collective engagement within the context of #MeTooIndia movement. Using pertinent, publicly available Twitter data over two time periods, we examine how sustained connected action and social movements evolve over time. We find that users are more likely to use personal action frames for connective action at the beginning of the social movement, but over time, these action frames coalesce into more collective action frames. We also find a high degree of clustering and mutual interdependence between the most influential and active advocates initially. However, both move towards more peripheral advocates subsequently. These results point to the importance of balance between connective and collective action and a movement from the core to periphery to sustain social movements over time. Our findings provide a fresh perspective on inclusive digital organizing that has become central to IS scholarship.