This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Flinders University researchers have examined the role social media plays in expanding social movements and found that perceptions of online activists' motives can significantly affect others' willingness to participate. The study is published in the journal New Media & Society.
"Social media is an important tool used by supporters of social movements to persuade others to participate—but people who engage in online collective action may be perceived as acting for self-serving reasons, and these perceptions can greatly affect the effectiveness of collective action," said lead researcher Dr. Lisette Yip of Flinders' College of Human Sciences and Culture. "It raises a question: When people who take online collective action are believed to be acting for self-serving reasons, can they still persuade others to support the cause and expand these social movements?" Flinders University researchers conducted three experiments suggesting the answer is no.
Bystanders said they were less likely to be persuaded to engage in collective action by activist leaders they perceived as insincere. Participants viewed posts or an immersive social media feed in which a user encouraged them to take action for a political cause. The user stated that they acted out of genuine concern (autonomous motivation), to avoid guilt and social disapproval (controlled motivation), or did not specify (baseline).
Participants who viewed posts conveying controlled motivation perceived the user as less autonomously motivated and were less likely to identify as supporters or take collective action. They were less willing to sign a petition or take other action for the cause. "Movements will be more effective at mobilizing online support when they are seen to come from autonomous motives," Yip said.
"Social movement organizers and those who wish to convince their peers to support a cause they care about should consider the underlying motives conveyed in their messages, and should seek to foster genuine concern among their audiences so that they, too, can become effective advocates." Although social media posts may help raise awareness about social issues regardless of motives, advocates perceived as externally motivated are less effective than those perceived as sincere. Lisette Yip et al, Are they virtue-signalling or sincere? The impact of perceived motives on the effectiveness of online collective action, New Media & Society (2026).
DOI: 10.1177/14614448261475059 Journal information: New Media & Society BSc Life Sciences & Ecology. Microbiology lab background with pharmaceutical news experience in oil, gas, and renewable industries. Full profile → Master's in physics with research experience.
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