Selected
Publications
Available here.
Available here.
(2018) ‘Facebook’s Communication Protocols, Algorithmic Filters and Protest: A Critical perspective’, in Mortensen, S., Neumayer, C., and Poell, T. (Eds.) Social Media Materialities and Protest: Critical Reflections (with Daniele Pica).
"The chapter suggests a cycle of depression as a sensitizing tool to understand the transformation of the temporal dimensions of networked movements. Whereas the algorithmic distribution of information on Facebook promotes short-term mobilization by real-time mass-sharing, on a medium-/long-term basis, it negatively affects collective identity and organizational processes, ultimately hindering mobilization itself. Finally, the study suggests incorporating leadership and collective identity as additional dimensions of analysis to overcome the limitations of existing lifecycle frameworks."
(2016) ‘Social Networks and Participation: A Critical Literature Review’, DigitCult – Scientific Journal on Digital Culture, Vol.1 No 3 (with Daniele Pica).
“This paper explores the controversial concept of participation in contemporary commercial social networking media. (..) By critically analysing a multitude of perspectives on participation in social media studies, this critical survey attempts to develop a comprehensive overview of the understanding of participation that can be used as a basis for further research across different disciplines. The paper further argues that participation is a concept that cannot be studied without a multi-disciplinary approach that takes into consideration both micro and macro level of communication.”
(Coretti and Pica, 2016, p.21)
Available here.
Available here.
(2015) ‘The Rise and Fall of Collective Identity in Networked Movements: Communication Protocols, Facebook, and the Anti-Berlusconi Protest’, Information, Communication & Society, Vol. 18 No 8, pp. 951 - 967 (with Daniele Pica).
“Coretti and Pica’s paper explores the impact of social media on the construction of collective identity within the anti-Berlusconi Popolo Viola (Purple People) movement in Italy. The authors highlight that new forms of collective identity originate in the interactions between changing human interactions and social media’s evolving infrastructure. They demonstrate that within this movement, Facebook pages came to constitute a key terrain for both the construction and the contestation of collective identity. Coretti and Pica convincingly argue that ‘after an initial success, the incompatibility between the commercial interests behind Facebook’s design, and the egalitarian ideology of Popolo Viola became manifest’. Thus, their contribution underlines the imbrication of technological affordances and power dynamics in the construction of collective identity through social media platforms.” (Gerbaudo and Treré, 2015, p. 869)
(2015) ‘The Purple Movement: How Facebook’s Design Undermined the Anti-Berlusconi Protest in Italy’,
Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies, Vol.3 No 3, pp. 305 - 318 (with Daniele Pica).
"This article assesses the relationship between the use of Facebook and the development of social movements by focusing on the case study of the Italian movement Popolo Viola/Purple People and its organizational structure. The findings of this study show how Facebook proved to be an efficient mobilizing structure for the social movement only on a short-term basis. (...) The inability to manage Facebook pages and groups according to commonly agreed values promoted vertical power structures within the movement, contributing to a controversial management of the Facebook page and to internal divisions that hindered significantly the potential of the anti-Berlusconi protest."
Available here.
(2014) The Purple Movement: Social Media and Activism in Berlusconi’s Italy, PhD Thesis, University of Westminster.
"On 5th December, 2009, hundreds of thousands of Italian citizens took to the streets of Rome to say ‘no’ to the politics of Silvio Berlusconi’s government and to ask for his resignation as Prime Minister. The demonstration was planned and organized, mainly on Facebook, by a group of bloggers. A single-issue protest rapidly evolved into a social movement, called ‘Popolo Viola’, ‘Purple People’. The colour purple was chosen because it was not previously associated with any political movement, and as a word to the wise that the movement was not linked to any political party. New groups and pages arose on Facebook: apart from the page ‘il Popolo Viola’, which now had more than 460,000 members (data August, 2013), thousands of pages and groups were opened at a local level, both inside and outside Italy.
Through the lenses of Social Movement Theory and the Critical Theory of Technology this study focuses on the role played by the use of Facebook in the development of the movement’s organizational structure, the building of its collective identity, and its mobilization processes."
Available here.
(2013) ‘The Role of Social Media in Arab Uprisings – Past and Present’, Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, Vol.2 No 2 (with Maha Taki).
"Social media in the Arab world before the recent revolutions had been described as marginal, alternative and elitist, and their impact minimal because of the low penetration rates of the internet. The 2011 events across the Arab world have brought ‘social media’ to the forefront, with many crediting Facebook, weblogs and Twitter with facilitating the revolutions that have taken place. Yet we have not fully understood the role of social media during the recent events and the convergence of social media with not only mainstream media but also with actual street demonstrations. Moreover, the role and significance of social media during recent events across the Arab world has varied greatly. What are the cultural, technical and political variables that are conducive to using social media for mobilization? How have citizens and states used social media during the uprising and beyond? How do we research social media movements in the Arab world?"
Available here.