The last few years have witnessed a change in how and why social media channels are used. What initially started as a fad is evolving into a tool for bringing about social change. Today it is the Occupy Wall Street movement; tomorrow it could be something else.

1. Social Media Helps Spur #OccupyWallStreet Protests
Social Media for a Social Change
What started off with a small group of people protesting against economic inequality and social greed in New York
City has now turned into a growing, global movement. While some people are drawing an analogy to Tahrir Square,
the Anti-Wall Street protests clearly highlight how important social media can be. With demonstrations being held
outside financial institutions and federal banks from LA to Boston, the protesters have taken to social media, hoping
for a social change. From Twitter hashtags that are being used to spread the word, to Facebook posts and countless
YouTube videos, the movement continues to gain mileage every day. Unlike a few years ago, when protests and
campaigns briefly grabbed the attention of the world via traditional channels, only to fade away with time, the real-
time nature of social media has changed the way campaigns are organized and broadcasted. Here‟s a brief overview
of how social media expanded the reach of the campaign that began with a few dozen demonstrators camping in front
of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE):
July 13, 2011: The Adbusters magazine posted a call to Occupy Wall Street on their blog.
Following the protests outside NYSE on September 17, people took to various networking sites to further
garner support for their cause; this saw the emergence of additional support groups like „Occupy Chicago‟,
„Occupy Boston‟, „Occupy Philadelphia‟ etc.
Within a few weeks, the leaderless protests witnessed +200 Facebook pages and Twitter accounts emerge,
urging volunteers to join the movement in their respective
cities.
The Occupy Wall Street Facebook page currently boasts
+200,000 „likes‟ and has over 123,000 people talking about
it on the networking site.
The increasing Facebook updates and likes, as well as the
Twitter hashtags and handles, were just the beginning.
The digital space is flooded with videos featuring dozens
of demonstrations that were held around the world on
October 15th, taking the campaign to a global level.
As the OWS movement arrived at the one month
milestone (on October 17th, 2011), the number of
„Occupy‟ Facebook pages overreached geographical
barriers, with the Occupy the London Stock Exchange,
Occupy Brazil, Occupy Berlin, Occupy Sydney and Occupy
Tokyo pages propping up.
Users also joined Meetup.com and Foursquare to find like-minded people and to organize protests.
Whether it was capturing Julian Assange‟s remarks to protesters in London, or the violence that broke out
during a large rally in Rome, the protesters shared with the world, in real-time, everything that was
happening in their cities.
The ‘Occupy’ Movement: Tracking the Social Media Buzz
Analysis (for the time period between 17th September 2011 and 17th October 2011) by the Brand Monitor Team at
Position² indicates a gradual build-up in conversation volumes. The protests then gained steam, with the highest buzz
registered on 6th October 2011 (33,347), followed by 32,875 posts registered on 3rd October.
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2. Overall Media Sources Breakdown
Of the 449,561 total posts, discussion forums recorded the maximum conversation volumes at 33%.
This was followed by blogs at 26%, with people taking to various blogging platforms including Tumblr to talk
about problems ranging from unemployment to social inequality.
Twitter, which established itself as a crucial social media tool for communicating about the movement, also
registered considerable buzz at 22%. While #OccupyWallStreet is one of the commonly used hashtags, other
hashtags like #revolution, #ows, #99percent, #OccupyPhilly etc significantly contributed to the social media
buzz and accelerated the rate at which conversations travelled across the digital space.
When compared to other channels, the buzz on Facebook was not as much (2%). However, the 9,263 Facebook
posts included not just pages from USA, but also from other countries from across the world. Perhaps one of
the reasons for the negligible Facebook traffic could be the users‟ concern about the reaction from their
employers.
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3. Demographics
Top Country Breakdown
Since USA was where it all started, it came as no surprise to see the maximum buzz (84%) registered here.
Frustrated US citizens, especially the unemployed Americans and those belonging to the lower socio-economic
class were rather vocal in their opinion about how the banks were making all the money (the 1%), while the
rest (the 99%) were deprived of their basic rights.
This was followed by countries like Canada and UK, which accounted for 4% and 3% of the conversations
respectively.
Further analysis shows that New York, where the initial demonstrations began, registered the highest
conversation volumes at 34,284.
This was followed by Massachusetts (3.941) and Washington (2,828).
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4. Gender and Age Distribution
At 65%, the men were more active in conversations
pertaining to the anti-Wall Street protests when
compared to women (35%).
The +65 age group was not vocal about their thoughts
and opinions (0%). We attribute their silence to the fact
that this age bracket, which mostly comprised of the
retired population, was not as concerned about day-to-
day financial issues as the <65 population was.
The 20-35 age bracket was the most vocal at 34%. This
demographic largely comprises of those who are either
already employed or those who are looking to start their
careers. Therefore, it is unsurprising that they were
highly opinionated about the financial institutions and
banks.
This was closely followed by the 36-50 age bracket, at
26%.
Conclusion
When it started nearly a month back, the Occupy Wall Street
Movement was a nation-wide campaign that witnessed American
citizens protesting against various issues ranging from corporate greed to the influence of corporate money on
government. Within a matter of few days, the campaign that had caught on the social media bug, rapidly spread,
conveying the message of the frustrated „99%‟ to the rest of the world. Despite the recent arrests, the Anti-Wall
street protests are showing no signs of slowing down. Social networking channels like Facebook and Twitter, along
with Tumblr blogs and numerous videos are functioning as communication tools, breaking geographical barriers and
giving a global voice to the campaign.
As the above analysis indicates, USA registered the highest volume of social media conversations. However, the
movement has only just started to spread abroad. While Greece is poised to join the „Occupy‟ campaign, Spain is
amongst the recent countries to have expressed their solidarity. With country-specific hashtags and Facebook pages
being created every day, it is only a matter of time before we see online traffic pick up in different parts of the
world. Although some people who are concerned about reactions from their employers decided to keep a low-profile
on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and discussion forums are abuzz with conversations, where opinions are exchanged,
videos are uploaded and updates are shared.
Whether it is the Occupy Wall Street movement or the Women2Drive campaign, it is evident that how powerful social
media can be. The last few years have witnessed a change in how and why social media channels are used. What
initially started as a fad is evolving into a tool for bringing about social change. What we do know is that social media
as a communication tool is something that cannot be ignored. As for the Anti-Wall Street protests, we are eager to see
how influential social media can be in bringing about a social change.
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5. About Position2
Position2 is a Search and Social Media Marketing firm that delivers continuous growth for our clients using our
proprietary “Surround and Intent” Marketing Methodology, delivered by our products. Our proprietary methodology is
a result of years of experience in working with diverse clients to deliver customer acquisition goals through search
engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing (SMM), and Pay Per Click (PPC) and online media advertising.
Position2 was founded in 2006 with funding from Accel Venture Partners, and has offices in Palo Alto, Bangalore and
Mumbai. Position2 is a certified agency with Google, Yahoo, Bing and is also part of the Google Adwords advisory
council.
Position2's flagship product is Position2 Brand MonitorTM, a platform that allows users to listen, discover and engage
with social media conversations in real time. With a team of over 100 professionals, Position 2 also provides expertise
in online marketing solutions: SEO, PPC, Media and Advertising.
Position2 works with leading global brands:
This article is also available on the Position2 Blog: http://blog.position2.com.
For more information, visit http://brandmonitor.position2.com or email info@position2.com.
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