Problems and Purpose

According to the CDC, in the United States, “46.3% of women (nearly 52.2 million) experienced some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime...” [1]. The #metoo movement was created in order to raise awareness for the large number of women who face sexual assault and harassment. The purpose of the movement began with Alyssa Milano’s tweet stating, “Me too. Suggested by a friend: “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too.’ as status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” [2].

Background History and Context

Social movements have increasingly made their way to social media platforms. Movements such as the “Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street in the US, and Los Indignados in Spain, and the YoSoy132 movement in Mexico” were all movements which began offline and garnered more support and attention through online platforms [1]. Another important and influential movement is the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2020, the movement garnered 14.6 million Instagram posts by 11:45am on June 2 [3]. As social media has progressed, it has allowed for these social movements to garner more attention because the platforms allow participants the opportunity to engage with little effort. Furthermore, the attention social media brings to these movements can also spark inspiration to become involved. 

The ‘me too’ phrase was started in 2006 (by Tarana Burke), but did not garner attention until it went viral in 2017 [4]. In 24 hours, the hashtag was used more than 500,000 times sparking a social movement completely started online [4]. The online beginnings of this movement make it different in that previous movements have started offline and moved online. This movement swapped the social media process by starting online and moving offline. Within the first year after Milano’s original tweet, the #metoo hashtag was used “more than 19 million times on twitter” [5]. As Anderson and Toor observed, “that works out to an average of 55, 139 uses of the hashtag per day” [5]. Since then, the #metoo Movement has formed itself into a global organization with support of other organizations focused on the same mission. 

Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities

The #metoo movement has garnered global support through social media platforms, especially, Twitter. The global organization also highlights and acknowledges organizations that take part in the fight to end sexual violence. These organizations are listed as “Organizations in Action” on the #metoo official website. These organizations include: 1in6, BE HEARD in the Workplace Act, BEAM, Black Women’s Blueprint, Darkness to Light, FORGE, FreeForm, Girls for Gender Equity, Joyful Heart, Justice for Migrant Women, Rise, and many more [6]. In addition to these, one can find an immense number of #metoo Movement social media pages created by everyday users. What is unique about this movement is that while many of these organizations have the capability to support this global movement, anyone with an active Twitter account could join and become involved. 

The #metoo Movement began in 2006, working to bring resources, support, and pathways to healing. In 2017 the #metoo hashtag went viral. It is no secret that the power of the internet created an influx of funding for the movement. Hill wrote a report documenting the increase of funding the movement obtained. She reported that since 2018, “the staggering sums raised by nonprofits focused on women’s issues prove that this movement will have a major impact for years to come” [7]. When researching the surge of funding, Hill found that after looking at 180 organizations that serve women, “the total dollar amount of donations through the “Me Too Movement site” to those nonprofits has jumped 7% in the past year, with the number of donations up 13%” [7]. In addition, the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund raised $21 million dollars [7]. The article by Hill notes that many of these donations were given in small and large amounts, and that donors ranged from celebrities to ordinary people all over the U.S. [7]. Lastly, the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) saw a 42% increase in donations with support from individuals and major networks like Google [7].  

The #metoo Movement gained the support through organizations with similar missions, everyday individuals, celebrities, and major networks. This emphasizes the power social media has to drive a movement forward. The organization centered its support around a mission that has propelled different actions among a large group of people who have never met and probably will never know one another. This type of support has created a new organizational strategy as the distinct focus of the organization never alters. This produces the capacity to organize on a national and global level without deviating from a specific mission. 

Participant Recruitment and Selection

Participants within the movement ranged from ordinary individuals, celebrities, politicians and news sources. All of these participants took part in the viral movement on twitter. Brünker et al. determined primary participants who gained the most traction from tweets to be “power users” [4]. Brünker et. al characterized these power users as playing roles such as ‘private person,’ ‘celebrity,’ ‘activists,’ ‘journalists,’ and so on [4]. Within the first two months of the movement, 4“44% of the members of Congress, most of them women, mentioned sexual misconduct on their official Facebook pages [5]. Public participation in the movement truly sparked through the masses and was practiced by those in the most influential roles. 

Methods and Tools Used

The primary method used to spark public participation was social media. Twitter was the primary platform by which users engaged with one another. Following twitter, online engagement also took place on other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Reddit.

What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation

Brünker et al.’s research shows that social media users engaged in this social movement by the practice of sharing testimonies, personal information, references, and calls for action through tweets [4]. These tweets garnered support and shares through retweets of other users. Each user, in the study, used a form of descriptive content such as hashtags, urls to external, media content, and @mentions to contribute to the conversation online regarding the #metoo movement [4]. The descriptive content that social media users are able to engage with helped to analyze the behaviors of roles that users portrayed during the movement. 

Lastly, research showed the peak of communication for all categories throughout the two-month analysis of the movement. The number of tweets using the #metoo hashtag was higher following the hashtag first going viral; the following peaks of the hashtag use were connected to events that occurred offline. [5]. The online participation had the capacity to spark offline action. Participants in the #metoo movement began to interact with each other both on- and offline. Pew Research also drew connections between offline and online events. Within its first year, the #metoo hashtag was used more than 19 million times. [5] This averaged over 55,000 tweets with the hashtag per day [5]. An increase in the number of tweets using the #metoo hashtag was reported in response to resignations that had to do with sexual misconduct such as the resignation of Leslie Moonves from CBS and Harvey Weinstein’s resignation [5].  These tweets had the ability to amplify the movement around events centered to the movement’s cause.

Furthermore, Pew researchers Anderson and Toor found that topics discussed also included celebrities and politicians. Anderson and Toor wrote that the topics were: “Twitter users sharing personal stories of harassment; users talking about the entertainment industry or celebrities in their tweets; and users discussing national politics or politicians” [5]. Participant recruitment took two forms: most participants self-selected into the movement, and some participants called for acts of public participation by others.

According to Manikonda et al., Reddit users used the platform to share their personal stories in a positive way. Their research found that none of the #metoo posts on the platform ever received “down votes” suggesting posts and engagements were positive [8]. 

Influence, Outcomes, and Effects

Because of its viral effects, the #metoo Movement has fulfilled its purpose of raising awareness of and fighting to end sexual violence. Throughout the life of the movement, supporting organizations have offered assistance to women and other specific demographics who have been affected by this issue. 

The movement has also garnered more awareness through participation by influential individuals such as celebrities and politicians. It is important to note that branding motives may have influenced the actions of celebrities in the movement, as social media posts by celebrities tended to disclose less personal information than posts by private persons [4]. Regardless of the motives of influential individuals, their use of the hashtag has drawn attention to the movement in a positive way. Lee discussed that this movement has led to widespread discussion about how to stop problems with sexual abuse or harassment at work [9]. Furthermore, the movement seems to have shifted the norms concerning sexual harassment in the workplace.

The #metoo Movement has allowed a global sharing of personal stories and information regarding sexual violence. In the sharing of this information, and circulation of tweets, the study of Brünker et al. found that it could be beneficial for use of activists and NGOs to better promote their agenda through the movement [4]. The positive outcomes from the #metoo Movement may serve as a catalyst for future social movements or aid current movements in completing their agendas. 

Analysis and Lessons Learned

The #metoo Movement was unique due to the fact that it was started completely online when sparking public participation. It showcases the power of public participation through social media that other movements will follow for years to come. 

The movement also shows the impact that stories can have on individuals who do not know one another as participants shared personal stories and experiences regarding the issue. As supporting organizations and fundraising have come to the forefront of the movement, members of the #metoo Movement have been seen and heard. The power of social of media in accordance with personal stories showcases the power of organizing globally around the same mission. Sparked by a tweet, the movement has created a momentum that will last for years to come. While the success of future online movements is uncertain, these movements have a strong framework and example to follow in the future.

References

[1] Smith, S.G., Zhang, X., Basile, K.C., Merrick, M.T., Wang, J., Kresnow, M., & Chen, J. (2018). National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2015 data brief – Updated release. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/datasources/nisvs/2015NISVSdatabrief.html

[2] Milano, A. (2017, October 15). If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet. pic.twitter.com/k2oeCiUf9n. https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/919659438700670976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E919659438700670976%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_

[3] Bursztynsky, J., & Whitten, S. (2020, June 02). Instagram users flood the app with millions of Blackout Tuesday posts. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/02/instagram-users-flood-the-app-with-millions-of-blackout-tuesday-posts.html

[4] Brünker, F., Wischnewski, M., Mirbabaie, M., & Meinert, J. (2020). The Role of Social Media during Social Movements – Observations from the #metoo Debate on Twitter. Proceedings of the 53rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. doi:10.24251/hicss.2020.288

[5] Anderson, M., & Toor, S. (2020, August 25). How social media users have discussed sexual harassment since #MeToo went viral. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/11/how-social-media-users-have-discussed-sexual-harassment-since-metoo-went-viral/

[6] Organizations in Action. (2020, July 16). https://metoomvmt.org/take-action/organizations-in-action/

[7] Hill, C. (2018, October 03). This is the staggering amount of money #MeToo has helped raise for women's causes. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-the-staggering-amount-of-money-metoo-has-helped-raise-for-womens-causes-2018-10-02

[8]. Manikonda, L., Beigi, G., Liu, H., & Kambhampati, S. (2018, March 21). Twitter for Sparking a Movement, Reddit for Sharing the Moment: #metoo through the Lens of Social Media. https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.08022

[9] Lee, B. (2018, May 16). #Me Too Movement; It Is Time That We All Act and Participate in Transformation. https://www.psychiatryinvestigation.org/journal/view.php?number=881

Notes

The first version of this case entry was written by Cecilia Trotter, a Master of Public Service candidate at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, and then edited. The views expressed in the entry are those of the authors, editors, or cited sources, and are not necessarily those of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.