Social media and the ‘Balkan spring’

This chapter highlights the usage of social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) as an important distinction that prominently shaped recent protest movements in Southeast Europe. The contribution focuses on the JMBG protests in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the ways that social media was used to mobilise and communicate during the protests. Concluding, the author argues that social media cannot be considered a tool of democratisation per se, but that these platforms nonetheless represent an important source of information for the wider public and, more importantly, a communication tool for the protest organisers, particularly in early stages of the protests.