ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the origin and development of online social media. The development of online social networks can be traced back to 1973 in Berkeley, with the Leopold record community memory group. The debate on the role and impact of online social networks is polarized between the rose-tinted vision and the pessimistic, cynical vision. Whilst the first one sees online social networks as emancipatory channels of contestation and rule breaking, or at least of challenge to the established order, the second one focuses on the process of normalization and sees cyberspace as increasingly dominated by the established power brokers. The chapter focus on examples of the role played by social media in recent grassroots mobilizations to challenge the power of elites. It outlines the main terms of the debate, leading to a tentative conclusion on the advent of a 'networked democracy' fostered by collaborative and interactive technologies providing citizens with greater access to public decision-making.
