Lucia D'Ambrosi a & Laura Massoli b a University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy. Published online: 30 Oct 2012.

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1 This article was downloaded by: [Florida International University] On: 22 December 2014, At: 03:08 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: Registered office: Mortimer House, Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK International Review of Sociology: Revue Internationale de Sociologie Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: Bridging and bonding connections beyond the web: youth movements and civic engagement Lucia D'Ambrosi a & Laura Massoli b a University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy b Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Roma, Italy Published online: 30 Oct To cite this article: Lucia D'Ambrosi & Laura Massoli (2012) Bridging and bonding connections beyond the web: youth movements and civic engagement, International Review of Sociology: Revue Internationale de Sociologie, 22:3, , DOI: / To link to this article: PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the Content ) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

2 International Review of Sociology*Revue Internationale de Sociologie, 2012 Vol. 22, No. 3, , RESEARCH ARTICLE Bridging and bonding connections beyond the web: youth movements and civic engagement Lucia D Ambrosi a and Laura Massoli*,b a University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy; b Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Roma, Italy (Received November 2011; final version received February 2012) Young people s participation, supported by the advent and the use of social media, seems to increase and become more definite, especially when it is linked to the local territory and its activities. In this respect, the connections the youths are able to create online go beyond the web, also developing social interactions with local communities. This article, starting from these premises, aims at investigating more deeply the debate about the civic use of the web by young people. The analysis focuses on 20 youth movements (cultural, social-collective, and environmental ones), with national/international relevance, mainly related to the web. Taking into account five main dimensions internationalization, level of organization, participation, communication, and benefits for the social structure the paper point outs different dynamics among the movements related to: (1) the use of the net, (2) the transfer from the online communication exchange to the local implementation of the civic actions, and (3) the involvement of the local public opinion. Moreover, the study reveals strong connections among participants, both in terms of bridging and bonding links so that the movements may be considered as a promising opportunity to strengthen civicness and foster social capital. Keywords: civic engagement; social media; web; youth movements Emerging movements between individualism and civicness In today s advanced society, relationships and civic participation have become more and more necessary to get oriented in the public sphere and to find again, within the different forms of collective membership, those certainties so much championed (D Ambrosi 2011). By this, we refer to social, ethic, civic certainties to which public institutions are not able to respond adequately any more, requiring individuals to act in autonomy inside the social system and to find biographic solutions of systemic contradictions (Beck 1992, p. 137), in relation to common problems. Within this process of individual affirmation, the trend to co-operation and search for coalition with others becomes the basic condition not only to split that weight of responsibilities we are loaded with, but also to share and try new paths of liveability. Such reflections allow the specification of the concept itself of civic and social participation which is something different from politics because of the inner relationship between individual and society. *Corresponding author. l.massoli@funzionepubblica.it # 2012 University of Rome La Sapienza

3 International Review of Sociology*Revue Internationale de Sociologie 531 As they say: While political participation refers to the relationship between individual and society in terms of citizen and state, social or civic participation refer to the relationship between the individual self and a group or community. The political term of participation has both individual and collective aspects; terms such as civil society and civic participation primarily refer to collective action: membership, especially active membership, in associations and organizations. It is especially in this regard that (new) social movements deserve mentioning (although overlapping with political participation). (Loncle et al. 2008, p. 13) In such a scenery, mainly characterized by the relationship between solid activism and political civic-mindedness (Faccioli 2011), young people s participation in public spaces increases and becomes more definite: they belong to a part of the population who seems more sensitive to joining and referring to relational models and to networks of solidarity co-operation. Recent studies (European Commission 2011) put in evidence that 18% of European youths between 15 and 30 years old are members of a youth association, 14% belongs to cultural groups, 11% to an association aiming to improve the community and local territory, while 24% declare to have taken part in a volunteer activity organized during the last year (the year 2010). In particular, voluntary service is considered by three youths out of four (74%) a spur to a stronger participation in democratic life of the community, because it encourages reciprocal understanding, dialogue, and solidarity (European Commission 2007). An even more interesting aspect is that youths participation increases significantly when voluntary work is combined with the attention to and engagement with their own territory: in this case 51% of European young people (58% in Italy) declare that they carry out some activities in this area (European Commission 2011). The development of new technologies and, in particular, of the web has moreover broadened the possibility for youths to be active citizens in different areas of interest: social and civic initiatives, but also cultural and leisure ones. All these activities allow users to give and exchange flows of knowledge that can be useful to share contents and give suggestions. In today s society, marked by an extended and flexible connectivity and by so-called weak connections (Granovetter 1973), individuals have the chance to surf, without a break, from one network to another (Castells 2002). Web communities thus become networks of interpersonal ties that provide sociability, support, information, sense of belonging and social identity (Wellman 2001, p. 18). The rise of Web 2.0 has further facilitated the creation of these communities, thanks to applications that facilitate participatory information sharing and interoperability (such as social networking sites, blogs, video sharing sites, etc.). According to O Reilly, Web 2.0 determines a number of network effects: databases that get richer the more people interact with them, applications that are smarter the more people use them, so that user contributions become the key element within this new scenario (O Reilly 2006, p. 3). Even at the European level, EU Youth Strategy emphasizes the importance of youths participation in civic society and highlights the strategic role that new technologies have in particular social computing (IPTS 2010) to promote the digital inclusion of these targets of population.

4 532 L. D Ambrosi and L. Massoli More and more youths use social networks: over 61% of Italians between 15 and 35 years old (LaPolis 2010) and 78% of Americans between 12 and 33 years old (Pew 2010) use the Internet to take part in a community and/or in a Social Network Site (SNS). This is a very positive trend, although such data do not specify if at least part of the activities carried out within online communities have a minimum of public connection (Couldry et al. 2007), which is considered an indispensable condition to qualify civic and political participation. As a matter of fact, then, the relationship between young people, civic society, and technologies is still to be fully explored: recent researches put in evidence that less than 10% of the time spent online by youths aged 1625 is used for civic aims (IPPR 2008). At any rate, there is no doubt that the Internet and social media offer young people freer and more independent environments, with stronger relational potentialities. Starting from a personal space, youths can create and keep contact with a group of equals and with their own extended social networks (Boyd and Ellison 2007, p. 11). As Dahlgren points out: Especially for young people in situations of minimal affluence, the web is not just something they visit on occasion in order to seek something special, it is increasingly a central terrain of their daily lives. Even if politics is a minor online activity when compared with other uses, online media have become highly significant for participation in a broader sense. (Dahlgren 2011, p. 7) Through participatory media (Rheingold 2008) new forms of relationships are created which allow young people to compare and find suggestions and proposals to solve real problems, to co-ordinate and mobilize in order to start new activities and collective actions on various matters (Bennet 2008, Shirky 2008). These dynamics originate real networked publics (Boyd 2008, Varnelis 2008) whose power comes from the high number of participants and the capability to get connected in innovatory ways on specific problems regarding the territory (life quality, defence of solid values, social justice). Often such forms of relationship already exist in real contexts, and afterwards they extend into virtual no-places. They can also be an expression of movements born within the web (blogs and social networks) which transform pre-existing models of sociality and feed participative dynamics to support a civic engagement. The relational nature and networking allow either the strengthening of collective memberships or the developing of a new social subjectivity through a stronger awareness of people s role within the public agora : This gives rise to and includes phases of socialization and communicative exchange, but also possible conflictual relationships. A further element characterizing these emerging movements concerns the progressive disaffection towards traditional forms of political participation (Mascheroni 2010). They do not side with and are not based on political ideologies and beliefs but on well-defined civic needs. To this extent, they are rather characterized by a strong tendency to demands, sometimes to conflict, and a general desire to be in the limelight. Thus, the overcoming of participation, meant as a deliberative exercise, does not lead to an apolitical feeling nor to solipsism but into post-politics (Grossi 2011).

5 International Review of Sociology*Revue Internationale de Sociologie 533 As Dahlgren emphasizes: Any perceived lack of participation cannot be seen as simply a question of civic apathy, but must be understood in the context of the dilemmas of late modern democracy more generally. (Dahlgren 2011, p. 3) The non-political element, or better, the distance between politics and these movements, combined with the presence of new issues deeply rooted in civic society, seems moreover to assure a particularly fruitful ground for the development of a social capital, as stated by an American study about youths (aged 1621) in 2008 (Kahne et al. 2010). A clear example of this capability to produce social capital, acting out of the traditional borders of politics and avoiding, generally, contacts with traditional and leading agents of political parties and institutions, is the experimentation of new and autonomous forms of response to real needs and public issues strictly connected to those on the agenda, such as environment, sustainable development, culture. A second aspect is that, for instance, these movements bring and claim new rights. Within the European policy started in the 1970s and addressed to citizenconsumers, in fact, new typologies of rights have been established, such as health care, security, responsible consumption: they have nowadays a primary importance for these movements actions and are strictly connected to a renewed afflatus for the care of common goods. In particular, the consumerism element is considered either a central purpose for the activation or a background strategy for civic and social actions, in which groups of young people share choices and value references (Faccioli 2011). Finally, in these practices of non-conventional engagement, individual empowerment is not only central, but it becomes non-negotiable. The single person, according to Beck s model of altruistic individualism (2008), gives rise to autonomy and individual growth to meet reciprocity and mutual identification. Within the networks society, the sources of meaning for collective identity such as class conscience, belonging to well-known and established groups, creed in classical ideologies fail and are often deliberately taken apart, while processes of individualization (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2002) and social networking emerge or coexist, promoting a personalized relationship with society and institutions. Such spurs to de-traditionalization and to pursuing individualization become central in this new culture, which is only apparently uncivic. As a matter of fact it leads to new forms of awareness, essentially linked to individual biographic plans that require more suitable lifestyles. We witness thus a constant tension between private and shared life, where the idea of citizenship becomes a practice to act in daily contexts, even through networks. To this extent youths handle different civic cultures, starting from their own personal experiences and networks of relationships. Once more, the web plays a basic role: within these movements being connected is a stable dimension in young people s lives and such a condition influences and modifies the forms and languages of civic engagement (Boccia Artieri 2011). The new territories online, made of blogs and social networks, create connections among individual lives, making visible that part of people s existence normally banished to private life (Arendt 1958), linking it with groups and various forms of association. Personal stories burst, carried

6 534 L. D Ambrosi and L. Massoli through social media, into a public space in a mixture where, inside networking movements, altogether with the definition of a common project, also individual experiences emerge, finding, sometimes, expression as conflicts, disagreements, dissents, suggestions. In such a context, someone speaks of a new phase of democracy (Grossi 2011), characterized by a different public sphere, deeply embedded in civic society. This model of civicness is strongly connected to civic activism (Moro 2005, 2009), where youth movements play a central role, thanks to their capability to express and represent forms of aggregation mainly bottom-up and so close to central matters and emergences of daily life. The research project: aims and strategy of the investigation The following research project starts from these premises, and its aim is to contribute to investigating more deeply the debate about the civic use of the web by young people. In particular, the investigation focuses on new youth movements which have a national/international relevance, mainly related to the web, and which have strong participative consequences within the Italian territory. They are mostly emerging movements, mobilizing from the bottom, where young people become bearers of the community s requests and problems; they do so by following spaces of intervention which are little appreciated on a formal level but potentially efficacious in order to solve real matters. A capital question whence the investigation strategy starts is understanding if virtual platforms can act as stimulators of behaviour models which can improve a participative culture and if these virtual circuits whether positive or negative can become experiences in contexts of real life. Thus, the research aims to investigate a new form of relationship between youth expressivity and technology, between generational field and civic and social engagement, focusing on the process of signification of virtual and real places, related to their participative dynamics. Three are the main operative goals the research claims: (1) analysis of forms of interaction settled in the different digital interfaces (such as portals, social network, blogs) which allow young people not only to share ideas and to suggest proposals, but also to express atypical modalities of association; (2) investigation of the role new technologies have as facilitators/activators of specific participative dynamics, for the creation of moments and spaces for aggregation which give rise to and include phases of socialization and exchange, but also possible conflictual relationships; (3) verification of the continuity and discontinuity between online experience and its effects on the social structure when ideas, proposals, initiatives emerge and they pass over virtual spaces and connections online to act in real terms, in places and backgrounds of civic society. On the basis of these goals, the research has a triple phase of investigation: background, claiming to select movements which have a civic interest and which involve young people, with a national and international relevance;

7 International Review of Sociology*Revue Internationale de Sociologie 535 explorative, claiming to analyse different digital interfaces (portal, social networks, etc.) where these emerging movements act; deeper quality research, claiming to investigate some specific dimensions of analysis. First phase In this phase, we individualized and analysed portals of dedicated interest (blogs, sites, tools of social networks) through which movements take shape and mobilize. The choice of 20 cases studied was made using the following criteria: use of new technologies, as a basic condition of expression for the different participative modalities; attention to topics on the agenda and which have a strong impact on the territory, such as: disposal of waste material, construction of public works, resolution of choices about sources of energy; non- political connotation mainly addressed to management of public policy, even though matters for which they mobilize are often related to dynamics of active politics; pursuit of purposes of general interest meant to improve and safeguard the common good. In short, therefore, it is all about movements having a civic purpose which acts between social solidarity and political civic-mindedness : young people use new technologies for aggregative aims, mainly claiming the safeguard of the general interest. Such an engagement is often perceived as an intervention of democratic policy, because these subjects carry on the main questions discussed on the government s agenda and put them into collective actions, for the good of everybody. The need to analyse and compare the selected movements led to a classification into the following typologies 1 : environmental (8 cases) movement which acts for the defence and improvement of the environment and for a sustainable development (areas such as pollution, disposal of waste material, urban decay, recycling of common use products). social-collective (6 cases) group movement, often non-structured, which mobilizes to affirm and claim social rights. It develops when a general feeling of dissatisfaction spreads around, to which institutions are not able to respond; it demonstrates through beneficial actions of dissent or unusual collective actions (as in the Smart mob case) which arise from specific social aims (for example, the Pillowfight, a collective movement born to fight daily stress). cultural (6 cases) movement which operates for the civic life of its country, mainly through a cultural engagement, and which realizes, often in partnership with the main educational and training agencies, initiatives and actions of sensitization to civic interest on different topics.

8 536 L. D Ambrosi and L. Massoli Second phase In the second phase, the research predisposed and applied an interpreting table based on indicators referable to the concept of youth engagement, aiming to verify the forms and modalities of activation online and its effects on the collective structure. The analysis, also from a comparative point of view, of the various experiences activated online in the sites we considered caught inspiration from the range of participation introduced by Arnstein (1969), further developed by Hart (1992), and it investigated the peculiarities which become explicit through the choice of: (1) different channels blog, forum, etc.; (2) different formats pictures, written texts, photographs, videos; and (3) different communicative registers informative, conflictual, networking, mobilization, which, even if they give details on the virtual youth world, bring descriptive consequences onto the real civic and social structure. 2 In particular, as Figure 1 shows, the interpretative table focused on some of the main dimensions of analysis: internationalization and networking, with reference to international, national, and local interest and expansion of the selected movements and to the connection with similar initiatives; organizational level in terms of dependence and autonomy level, planning, articulation of the hierarchic structure (if existing), creation of partnership with institutions or other stakeholders, definition of the relationship with other associations (connection, support, promotion); participation regarding the level of interaction and activation related to the following indicators: information/communication, listening/consulting, cooperation/involvement, autonomy/responsibility. The degree of participation within the web was furthermore analysed through the number of posts/ contributions to the forum during the last week and through the existence of different forms of conflict (either online or offline); communication in terms of existence of web spaces where exchanges and sharing of participative ideas and communicative purposes are created and fed (social network, portal, blogs, etc.) for which it is used a digital platform: that is, to have information and meet in the square (flash mob-like), share ideas, suggest proposals, promote and introduce what they want to do/is done. benefits for the social structure regarding the effective interventions on the territory or local spaces (i.e. civic action, protest, and boycott) and activities of sensitization. Third phase The deepening investigation focused on the carrying out of semi-structured interviews with the referents of the different movements, in order to investigate the modalities of activation of the different experiences. 3 This phase of the research was very interesting because it allowed better focus on some dimensions of analysis, like: procedures used to activate in the web these participative dynamics, typologies of the addressees involved, positive consequences in terms of effective interventions on the territory or local spaces, possible forms of conflict (either online or offline).

9 International Review of Sociology*Revue Internationale de Sociologie 537 Main results: internationalization, networking, and organizational level Internationalization appears to be a clue characteristic of these emerging movements. Many of the cases studied here show an extraterritorial extension, which is radicalized in the different contexts of residence and acquire forms and modalities of expression strongly related to local backgrounds. Eleven out of the 20 cases analysed are movements that have an international expansion, with a wide transnational diffusion. Some of them settled themselves in Italy recently, mainly during the period , even though they descend from pre-existing more consolidated international groups (mainly in the USA and in England). Among the movements examined, the cultural ones show a higher level of internalization, with a widespread distribution all over Italy (for instance Bookcrossing, a movement claiming the liberation of books in order to follow their trip through the comments of those who find them; it counts 25,000 people registered only in our country) and a strong connection with similar activities, with which they network. Even where there seems to be a municipal extension, we registered a good national and international interest, where the web is functional to promote and share different local activities and becomes a network of experiences (Figure 1). Also significant appears to be the level of international diffusion for socialcollective movements. Some of them are not yet working in Italy; however, they have consequences in the territory because of the visibility these experiences acquire thanks to the national press. More localized in the territory appears to be the participative expression of environmental movements, whose extension, although less branched-out nationally, seems to be very important at international level (like, for instance, Freecycle, whose project aims to re-use goods, which is something that nowadays involves more than 51 countries and within the web more than 1.5 million active people in 4,834 groups). Environmental movements are often connected to similar initiatives and record a meaningful presence on the agenda of national media, especially when they are related to daily life problems which are particularly controversial (such as waste materials or urban decay). In this situation the web is functional to support attention to local problems, although within the globalization which marks and characterizes it at an international level (glocal). We refer, for instance, to CleaNap, a popular movement in Naples (South Italy) which joins over 100 nations in its project to clean up its own territory from illegal wastes and to increase people s awareness all over the world. At an organizational level, these movements show very similar characteristics, even if they take shape in different ways. They consist mostly in mobilizations which start from the bottom (especially social-collective and environmental movements) and which are branched out in a public context, following paths and spaces of Figure 1. Internationalization and networking.

10 538 L. D Ambrosi and L. Massoli intervention little considered in a formal way but potentially efficacious as far as real solutions are concerned. Social-collective movements, also known as people- and locally oriented, are aggregative forms of people who mobilize from the bottom according to bottom-up criteria and who claim a contact with public institutions to organize events (Figure 2). Often the activities they pursue are not supported by any funding, and the consequence is minor access to channels and spaces in the territory; this often leads to a more limited liveability of the movement itself. Very similar in their configuration appear to be environmental movements, which can be identified as people-oriented, that is, groups of individuals who mobilize from the bottom and who afterwards tend to aggregate into associations. The institutional support, even through the access to funding, is necessary to give a project continuity to the activity. Unlike the others are cultural movements, often suggested and co-ordinated by associations which, for their project purposes, have the tendency to become/ transform into companies (we refer for instance to Bookerang, whose project was born from pioneering experiences of individuals and afterwards became a company, bookerang Srl). The contact with local institutions is important, also with some forms of funding, to stimulate the culture and promote the innovation through potentialities of the Web 2.0. As stated in an interview, many movements take shape in the web through spontaneous processes: Creating a movement inside the Web is a spontaneous process which rose from a need intrinsic in people to be able to express their ideas with no filters put by any possible obstacle. Therefore, once a topic on which to develop the movement is found, it takes shape and is created. (AntiSUV movement) However, not all of these projects were created through networking. The cases studied examined show that some of these activities were born in real-life contexts by word of mouth or exploiting other relational dynamics, and afterwards they spread out into the web spaces. As one of the referents states in an interview: Our movement, if it can be called so, was not born in a network, but it exploited some relational pre-existing dynamics within a circumscribed context such as a University Faculty. It moved into the Web afterwards, thanks to a group of students who decided to open a profile on Facebook. (Big University movement) These testimonies allow reflection on the different use a network can acquire for the creation, formation, and organizational articulation of these movements. Figure 2. Organizational level.

11 International Review of Sociology*Revue Internationale de Sociologie 539 The web represents, in many of these cases, an interface showcase to inform and promote what is done, but sometimes it represents an active part necessary to share experiences and proposals and also to co-ordinate and organize activities and events. Main findings: level of participation, communication, and benefits for the community The level of participation within these movements is analysed taking into account the OECD model (OECD 2001, 2009). The first step information/communication refers to a one-way flow which aims at providing to the participants updates and details about the movements, their organization, and the next steps of their activities. The second moment listening/consultation implies a two-way interaction with the engagement of the participants through the reception of suggestions and comments (D Ambrosi 2011). The step of co-operation/involvement requires a peer-to-peer approach and a full engagement with concrete actions and initiatives. Referring to the last step autonomy/responsibility, the youths take directly the initiatives co-operating sometimes with the institutions but they tend to manage projects and activities autonomously (D Ambrosi 2011). In this regard, a general overview on the level of participation (Figure 3) shows that the majority of the movements are characterized by a sufficient flow of information and communication. Moreover, the movements show a good level of autonomy and responsibility as well as the capability of collaborating and working together for common outputs and results. The indicator of listening/consultation appears to be the weakest and the least developed. In fact, the interaction and the level of consultation and discussion among participants are not very high. Social network sites and blogs are mainly used for posting information and news, but the scarce feed-back (low number of comments and poor portal update) confirms that the processes of listening and consulting have been not yet been fully implemented. Figure 3. Indicators of participation.

12 540 L. D Ambrosi and L. Massoli From the point of view of the different types of movements cultural, socialcollective, environmental it also possible to point out some specific features in terms of level of citizen participation. Cultural movements make use of the media tools for presenting and disseminating common cultural projects (such as cultural events or happenings). For example, during the period of the portal analysis, the sites of Rena (an Italian movement led by a national association of young professionals) were strongly focused on the promotion and dissemination of the School of the Good Government and Active Citizenship, a cultural and social initiative. Cultural movements aim at informing citizens (Figure 4); therefore the level of online participation and exchange is generally very low. In this respect, the cultural movements portals are often very rich in information but poor in terms of discussion; at the same time no form of conflict was observed in these sites. Social-collective movements mostly address citizens as consumers. The majority of this type of movements such as Guerrillalighting, AntiSUV, Parkingday, Carrotmob are international advocacy groups, which take place concretely in the form of flash/smart mobs. 4 These, generally, attract thousands of young people for a one-day event, to inform and involve them in a public issue (energy saving, critical consumption, etc.). To this extent the online participation is useful for (1) creating and keeping alive a network of people from different geographical locations who share common goals, (2) raising public awareness on common issues which are becoming more and more central in the social and political agendas of countries, and (3) supporting some forms of advocacy and protests (e.g. against the use of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in the AntiSUV movement, or as a symbolic manifestation against war in the Pillowfight movement). In the social-collective movements, the level of online conflict is quite high, and sometimes it develops into concrete disputes during the events/protests (this is again the case of the AntiSUV movement, whereas both online conflicts and concrete disputes are registered among participants who do not agree with the movement). Another potential form of conflict was pointed out by the RockYourSchool, a local Italian movement which connects different schools in Rome for online co-operation on the implementation of cleaning actions (school gardens and common urban areas) and civic education. This was highlighted as it follows in an interview: there could be a conflict among public administrations and citizens. In fact, civic activism may be seen as an effort to replace the public administration in order to guarantee better and more effective services. It is important to demonstrate constantly that participation and horizontal subsidiarity are close to the principle of shared administration, whereas citizens can freely decide to activate and cooperate with public institutions for protecting common goods. (RockYourSchool movement) The environmental movements are based on the contribution of active citizens and are mainly featured by a common project which is implemented through various Figure 4. The level of citizen participation.

13 International Review of Sociology*Revue Internationale de Sociologie 541 civic actions such as the cleaning of local public areas. This is the case of the Retake movement in Rome as well as the CleaNap movement in Naples, where groups of young people organize activities on the web, and subsequently they take action by meeting and cleaning public spaces of the city. In this respect, the level of online participation is significant and very effective as the youths take advantage of the SNSs for exchanging ideas, posting comments, and arranging meeting and activities. The role of the communication activities implemented on the web is also strategic and very important within the movements. A wide range of media tools are involved, showing a clear capacity of capitalizing on the web potentialities (Figure 5). Facebook is the most used online tool; in fact, each movement analysed in this study has a Facebook page which is fully embedded in the movement s philosophy, as stated in this interview: the opportunity of communicating our initiative on Facebook, using videos, comments and sharing ideas became part of the movements itself (Big University movement) Web portals are also well used especially in social-collective and environmental movements, whereas the web sites have specific management tasks and respond to precise goals. In the case of social-collective movements, there is usually a central portal, managed by the promoters of the movement. The portal aims at: (1) coordinating decentralized events (taking place at the local level), (2) providing a common and recognizable communication brand, and (3) making available a unified repository for the territorial initiatives/events (such as guidelines, leaflets freely downloadable by members). This is the case of the Picnic4degrowth movement where the central site is linked through a googlemap with the pages of the local events. The site promotes the picnic event on 5 June worldwide and gives information in different languages to people interested in joining the action by organizing a local picnic. Environmental movements show the most mature and developed integration Cultural movements Social-collective movements Facebook Web Portal Blog Twitter Environmental movements 3 Figure 5. Communications activities: most-used tools.

14 542 L. D Ambrosi and L. Massoli of use of different media tools, including SNSs, portals, blogs, and twitter, which trigger various communication paths: from the simple one-way information on activities, to the facilitation of discussion, up to the massive promotion of the movement actions to the public opinion and other media (Figure 6). The number of the media tools used by the movements appears also to be connected with the size and the level of development of the movements themselves; therefore local and still relatively small movements normally are able to manage only one tool (usually the Facebook page), while bigger movements integrate several media tools. A further element to be mentioned is the level of effectiveness of these movements, especially in terms of benefits and concrete outputs for the social structure and the community. Cultural movements focus on the creation of networking as well as the rise of public awareness on central issues. In this respect, there is the recognition that social media may help in going local and supporting some forms of improvements in the territories involved, as it was pointed out by a referent of the Bookerang movement: From the point of view of the outputs and positive effects of this experience, there is of course the recovery and development of the bookshop because the e-commerce system implemented within this initiative requires that the reader goes physically in a bookstore for collecting the ordered book. (Bookerang movement) In the case of social-collective movements, the element of public awareness still remains and plays an important role. Different issues linked with the citizen as consumer are crucial within these movements, which intend to promote a more critical know-how and a sustainable way of living. In addition, these movements succeed in taking people to the streets in a one-day meeting/event which could be a concrete civic action (Carrotmob), a protest (AntiSUV movement), or a simple Figure 6. Communications activities: main goals.

15 International Review of Sociology*Revue Internationale de Sociologie 543 happening/flash mob (Pillowfight). In all these different interventions the key element is the mob, which concretely goes beyond the online space and actually meets for sharing common ideas. Finally, the environmental movements highlight the strongest and most significant integration between the dissemination of public awareness with the implementation of civic actions. In these movements young people go local and take concrete actions such as cleaning and recycling, but at the same time the focus on the promotion of public issues remains a strong priority. Youth movements and online participation: a cycle perspective The overall analysis carried out on the youth movements shows different dynamics: (1) in the use of the net, (2) in the transfer from the online communication exchange to the local implementation of the civic actions, and (3) in the involvement of the local public opinion. In the case of Guerrillagardening, for example, the online interaction through Facebook is useful both for creating public awareness and for collecting material and further support/participants also at the territorial level. As the referent pointed out: the Guerrillagardening is contributing to change the citizen s perception on the use of neglected urban spaces. After the last guerrillagardening action, for example, local citizens have started to water every day the plants. This gives evidence that from the net could come positive and concrete contributions, useful for the urban territory. (Guerrillagardening movement) In order to provide a comprehensive and general framework for better analysing the different participative approaches, two dimensions were taken into account: (1) the level of activation among participants from collaboration/involvement to autonomy/responsibilities; and (2) the level of interaction among participants and with stakeholders (public institutions and associations) from information/communication to listening/consultation; and we evaluated the movements by assigning a specific score, on a 1 (low) to 3 (good) scale, to all of them (Table 1 and Figure 7). The first area of civic education features a low level of interaction (typically oneway communication) and a low level of activation among participants. Movements in this area mostly cultural ones normally implement projects and communicate the output using web tools. In this context, communication is quite unidirectional, and the involvement of other members is low and mainly in terms of gathering information and developing civic awareness. The area of partnership combines a low level of activation with a significant high level of interaction in terms of participants consultation. The key element is setting up a partnership with other stakeholders, which play an important role in the management of the movement and in its activities. The forms of partnership are very diverse: in the case of Retake and Big University, the movements are strictly connected with an association and a university, respectively, with a shared management of the initiatives. In the case of Guerrillalighting, the partnership with the institutions is arranged only at the local level, during territorial happenings, and it is therefore much more occasional and unstructured. The area of activism deals with a high level of interaction among participants and stakeholders as well as a high level of participants activation in terms of autonomy and full responsibility.

16 544 L. D Ambrosi and L. Massoli Table 1. Dimensions of participations and youth movements. Level of interaction Level of activation Information / communication Listening / consultation Collaboration / involvement Autonomy / responsibility Anobii 3 1 Bookcrossing 3 2 Big University 2 3 Bookerang 2 3 Rena 2 2 MCGU 1 1 Carrotmob 3 3 AntiSUV 3 2 Parkingday 1 3 Pic nic decrescita 3 2 Pillowfight 3 1 Guerrillalighting 2 2 RockYourSchool 2 2 Retake Roma 1 2 Cleanup 3 2 Fish for fight 3 3 Guerrillagardening 1 3 Friarelliribelli 3 2 Nonlobuttovia 1 2 Freecycle 2 2 Environmental movements represent the majority in this cluster. They are able to combine a close and effective collaboration among their members with a strong autonomy and consciousness of their civic actions. This kind of movements is very promising in terms of development of social capital, as they are not only embedded in the local context but also show a mature capability of taking their own responsibilities and commitment for supporting common public goods. The last area refers to independence, and it clusters many social-collective movements. It combines a high level of activation (that is high autonomy and responsibility) with a low level of interaction. Such movements appear to be very autonomous from traditional social and political agents, although their actions have often an international relevance which may affect social and political scenarios. The case of Carrotmob is significant. This movement is the opposite of a boycott and is able to connect people for a collective purchase in a shop/company, which has fulfilled special ethical and consumeristic requirements. Also the Fish for Fight movement which aims (also through an online petition) at promoting a responsible consumption of fish and revising the European legislation in this field is well known at the international level, and its relevance has had strong influence also within the European Commission activities. However, movements in this area activate a strong communication strategy which is mostly one-way, while the space for consultation and social exchange is very limited. The projects are usually structured in advance, and the different steps and tasks can only be implemented and can rarely be discussed and emended by the participants.

17 International Review of Sociology*Revue Internationale de Sociologie 545 PARTNERSHIP Listening/ Consultation + CleaNap ACTIVISM Friarelli Ribelli Collaboration/ Involvement MCGU Guerrilla Lighting Big University Bookerang Retake Roma Level of activation Rena CIVIC EDUCATION Non Lo Butto via Bookcrossing Rock your school Cultural movements Level of interaction Information/ Communication Autonomy Responsibility + Carrotmob Virtual or real activism: hints for a discussion This analysis is a very interesting starting-point for a reflection upon the symbolic aspect that virtual spaces acquire by sharing and supporting experiences of civic interest. The development and the increasing use of online devices and networked media offer opportunities hard to imagine in the past, in terms of greater participation in managing topics of public interest (Coleman 2005). Within the different digital platforms, the net generation uses methods and modalities of participation that are quite atypical because of the tools and devices they use. The ability to use new technologies, connected to the aptitude youths have towards a multimedia convergence and forms of integrated communication, encourages expressive dynamics of mobilization. Through the media environment, individual and collective spheres cohabit in new ways, transforming the lack of transparency of individual relationships into transparent forms, potentially able to produce perturbations within the different ambits of public life (Boccia Artieri 2011). There are three actions allowed by different connective media to trigger participation: informativecognitive action; relationalcommunitarian action; co-ordinative organizational action. At a first approach, in fact, many subjects involved use virtual and digital spaces to create and spread knowledge on phenomena concerned, using languages and expressive codes quite new if compared to the past. In a second moment, technology becomes an active part in creating connections among many individuals, developing a sense of aggregation and community when conceiving behavioural models that everybody can share and experiment with. Anobii Social-collective movements Figure 7. Structure and cycle of participation. Pillowfight Freecycle Antisuv Picnic decrescita Environmental movements Parkingday Guerrilla Gardening Fish for Fight INDEPENDENCE

18 546 L. D Ambrosi and L. Massoli At a more complex level, virtual space influences the phases of creating different forms of participation and setting up co-ordination actions within a collective mobilization. Moreover, three different models of interaction are connected to these forms of action used by young people within social media: the starting level of interaction is conversational (Stacy 2011), actualized with like/don t like to share others messages and posts. In the majority of the movements analysed, this interactive level is significant and represents the first step where people show and introduce themselves, featuring opinions and self-manifestations. Secondly the content (Stacy 2011) moment follows, where young people give place to their own personal expressions and, as already observed, biographical elements are mixed with personal opinions and experiences. Finally, there is the community level (Stacy 2011), which is the most advanced and tends to an external construction overcoming digital borders. In this last interactive form, the focus is on the contribution to a collective cause, as it happens for instance for the movement Cleanup: the community gathered online, through the Facebook profile and the blog, contemplates a further action, still collectively, but concretely taking place in the city daily life. The dynamics born in the network permeate then the real context through models and heterogeneous participatory actions, such as informed meeting, coordinated action, protest, and boycott, thus composing complex forms of youth interaction. The conflictual aspect that sometimes comes out, often as a side-effect of communicative exchanges in the web, can be circumscribed within the virtual space; however, it can also move out and become concrete in the real world and create forms of resistance and protest against the main social and institutional interlocutors. This is particularly true for social-collective and environmental movements, strongly linked to one another and spreading topics such as critical consumption, energy saving, and sustainable development. To these movements, the online and real protest becomes a further way to support the diffusion of one s policies, either when actualized into real behaviours (attacks on SUVs) or when it takes shape in more general actions, such as demonstrations against war or energy waste. The virtualreal interaction is so strong and integrated that often to young people s eyes it loses meaning. The distance and the difference between online actions/connections and those linked to real life are therefore cancelled. Young people do not seem to be able to catch nor distinguish the dichotomies between what happens online and what belongs to real life. Experiences that the net generations live within social media made of comments to others matters, sharing personal and biographical moments, creating networks and nets of socialization, experimentation of communication and participation models become a unicum with their own daily life. As a matter of fact, some analysts think that it does not even make sense any more to consider what young people do in and with social media and which relationships have consequences into their lives, because social media have become their lives (Leyts 2011, Valtat 2011). These initiatives being a background, there are different organizational models, along a continuum that goes from a level zero for structure and ownership, up to a real hierarchy and a sort of organigram; this opens interesting research questions on the capability of the new generations to activate, with or without the web support, steady and well-defined organizational forms.