Dr. Kelly Bergstrand Research

Targeted appeals: online social movement frame packaging and tactics customized for youth

This article recently published in Social Movement Studies, (Targeted Appeals: Online Social Movement Frame Packaging and Tactics Customized for Youth) is coauthored with Monica Whitham (Associate Professor of Sociology, Oklahoma State University). It investigates how social movement organizations tailor their frames and tactics to appeal to different age groups, including young children. For instance, some use toys, games, apps, comics, contests, celebrities, and so on to appeal to youth, and encourage them to engage in age-specific tactics, like making changes at their schools or recruiting other children or teens through social media. Such strategies may help them achieve more effective messaging, provide age-tailored action opportunities, gain entry into arenas difficult for activists to otherwise access, such as schools, and tap into social network connections, such as youth ties to parents and educators.