The Occupy Effect

Digital Strategies in Modern Social Movements

The Early Stages of the Occupy Wall Street Media Table

“Day 9 Occupy Wall Street September 25, 2011” by David Shankbone is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Justine Tunney, an early organizer and the creator of occupywallst.org, is pictured on the left.

The genesis of Occupy Wall Street can be traced back to a poster depicting a ballerina dancing on the back of the Wall Street bull in New York, printed in Adbusters magazine and posted to their Twitter account in the summer of 2011. In an article in Social Science Research, Suh et al. (2017) notes how the Canadian anti-capitalist magazine circulated the image alongside the hashtag #OccupyWallStreet, advocating for a peaceful demonstration.

^{“Kalle, Micah and the rest of the Adbusters team then designed a poster and wrote a tactical briefing that called for the protest, named the protest, picked the first day of the protest and identified the key tactic of the protest.”}

occupywallst.org

Brief Video about Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park

Occupying Wall Street, Places and Spaces of Political Action by Jonathan Massey and Brett Snyder is licensed under CC by NC-SA 3.0.

You can learn more about Zuccotti Park and its zoning significance here.

This call to action was a response to the corruption, negligence and greed exhibited by banks and financial institutions, which resulted in the 2007-2008 financial crisis. These private for-profit entities deemed “too big to fail” were bailed out using taxpayer money, while the average person’s quality of life significantly declined.

“Micah sent the first #OCCUPYWALLSTREET tweet and created the first Occupy Twitter account: @OccupyWallStNYC”

OCCUPYWALLST.ORG

Prompted by the Twitter post, a few hundred individuals gathered at Zuccotti Park on September 17, 2011. Within weeks the movement rapidly expanded from New York to other major cities, including Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles. By mid-November, more than 300 cities had reportedly spawned their own occupation protests (Suh et. al 2017, p.283).

Occupy! An OWS-Inspired Gazette

Five issues of this broadsheet were published and distributed in print and online by n+1 over the course of the first year of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. This copy was scanned by me and is one of the few keepsakes I have from my days as an occupier.

In addition to hundreds of Occupy adjacent encampments and protests sprouting up all around the world, subsequent social movements have been shaped by the influence of Occupy Wall Street. As acknowledged by Akin Olla (2021) of The Guardian, Occupy served as a pivotal turning point in redefining the political landscape in the United States and beyond. It wasn’t just a movement; rather, it acted as a blueprint for countless organizations and activist communities that emerged afterward.

Total number of tweets related to Occupy Wall Street between September 2011 and September 2012

Each time step represents a 12-hour period, with vertical blue bars overlaid on periods during which access to the Twitter streaming API was interrupted. Large bursts in activity tend to correspond to protest or police action on the ground, demarcated with circles. From left to right, the events are: initial Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park; initial NYPD arrests of protesters; march from Foley Square to Zuccotti Park; protest at U.S. Armed Forces recruiting station in Times Square; protest in support of Iraq veteran injured by police-fired projectile; NYPD action to clear Zuccotti Park; protest against eviction from Zuccotti Park; first round of Egyptian elections; ‘May Day’ general strike and planned reoccupation of former encampments.

The Digital Evolution of Occupy Wall Street – Scientific Figure on ResearchGate by Michael D. Conover*, Emilio Ferrara, Filippo Menczer, Alessandro Flammini licensed under CC0 1.0

Beyond its policy impacts, Occupy motivated individuals to drive a new era of social activism and political engagement through online mobilization (Castells 2012, p. 179). In Networks of Outrage and Hope, Castells (2012) emphasizes the significant impact Occupy Wall Street had on future social movements, highlighting its role in pioneering strategies that influenced subsequent protests like the Gezi Park protests in Turkey and the “Gilets Jaunes” Yellow Vest rebellion in France. Both are examples of international uprisings inspired by Occupy Wall Street’s digital mobilization strategies. Driven by economic injustice and political discontent, protesters employed digital direct action to coordinate large-scale demonstrations, while social media platforms amplified their messages, enhancing visibility and garnering support from across the world.  

Unofficial Promotional Video for Twitter and Tear Gas by Zeynep Tufekci

This video was inspired by the book Twitter and Tear Gas by Zeynep Tufekci which details the use of social media in political movements including Occupy Wall Street and The Gezi Park Protests.

It was created by Pine Curtain Film Co. and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

The effective use of the Internet and mobile communication networks is critical in these movements, though specific networking tactics may differ between them. Communication strategies incorporate both online and offline social networks, as well as existing and newly formed connections resulting from the protests activities. These networks exist within the movement, extend to other groups worldwide, and interact with the internet, social media platforms, the blogosphere, and traditional media (Castells 2012, p. 249).

In an article on Penn Today, Lingel & De Groot (2021) remind us that Occupy wasn’t the first demonstration to be digitally chronicled. Previously the World Trade Organization protest known as the Battle of Seattle in 2001, and the Republican National Convention protests in 2004 had taken place. Yet Occupy stands out as one of the earliest movements to be widely documented and disseminated on the internet and social media platforms, due to the recent widespread adoption of smartphones in the United States.

Black Lives Matter has exhibited great narrative capacity, and like the Occupy movement’s success in highlighting inequality, it has changed the public conversation. Crucially, social media allowed the movement to take local events, like a police killing in Ferguson, and make them nationally salient. Salience and attention complement each other, and social media, especially with its capacity to document events and to live-stream protests and other important moments, allows movements to make the connections of salience among local,national, and even international events.

Zeynep Tufekci, twitter and tear gas

In Youth Struggles: From the Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter & Beyond, Honwana (2019) describes how social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp have played a crucial role in coordinating and promoting protest. These communication tools have facilitated the spread of instantaneous social movements, using social media to solve a multitude of communication and organizational predicaments characteristic of preceding movements (p.16).

In an online article in Time Magazine, Anderson (2021) asserts that numerous subsequent protest movements were sparked by Occupy and are undoubtedly indebted to its influence. Within a year of the closure of the Zuccotti Park encampment in New York, the Fight for $15 campaign, with support from former Occupy participants, was launched. Later movements like Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the 2017 Women’s March, and the March for Our Lives were galvanized by the momentum generated by Occupy. Additionally, OWS played a pivotal role in generating support for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020.

Postcard From Yoko Ono Wish Tree

The authors personal copy with meeting notes from the park. In solidarity with the Occupy Movement, Yoko Ono made a postcard edition of 10,000 of her Wish Tree installation with written instructions to be distributed nationally by Occupy Wall Street groups.

Many celebrities endorsed the Occupy Movement increasing visibility, including Kanye West, Al Sharpton, Susan Sarandon, Russell Simmons, Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Penn Bagley, George Clooney, Rosanne Barr, Lupe Fiasco, and many others.

Video on Robinhood 2.0, an “activist hedge fund” with roots in the Occupy Movement

Another Way to Occupy Wallstreet? by Laura Flanders and Friends is licensed under CC by CC BY 3.0

As Vaughan et al. (2023) illustrates in an article from New Media & Society, WallStreetBets was the natural progression of Occupy Wall Street. United by a shared disdain for the corrupt practices of financial elites, both movements used online mobilization techniques to channel collective rage into tangible victories. A decade after OWS, WallStreetBets rallied a digital community of activists in strategic collective trading, directly affecting financial markets (p.2).

Occupy Doge, Dogecoin Launch Party

Photo of Dogeparty, Hosted at the Bitcoin Center in 2014. Dogecoin later saw a spike in value thanks to coordinated investment by WallStreetBets in 2020. Photo taken with permission from my friend Sarah’s Facebook, seen center.

WallStreetBets succeeded in hitting Wall Street where it hurt the most, delivering a blow to their bottom line. This feat is something Occupy could have only dreamed of achieving. Consequently, numerous hedge funds and traditional financial institutions suffered substantial losses. WallStreetBets shed light on inefficiencies and unfair practices in financial markets, sparking discussions about manipulation, short selling, and the impact of retail investors.

Art Poster from The Occupied Wall Street Journal

Weatherman Sez by Paul Chan, Color Screen Print on Wove Paper from the Occupied Wall Street Journal “Occuprint” issue licensed under CC by CC0 1.0

Beyond the borders of the United States, the impact of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) transcended national boundaries, inspiring a wave of global protests that echoed its call for social and economic justice.

Occupy Wall Street not only launched a movement, but it also revolutionized the implementation of social media strategies, intentional media outreach, hashtags, and live streaming, laying the groundwork for activists everywhere. It pioneered a new era of protest movements, encouraging solidarity across borders and influencing the trajectory of economic and social rights advocacy with the revolutionary use of digital platforms and creative communication methods.