Peer Collaboration: How Networked Mobilizations Evolve into Sustained Movements

Can leaderless, networked mobilizations develop into sustained movements? Traditional social movement literature has emphasized the role of formal organizations in solving various collective action problems in mass mobilizations, particularly those related to authority, information dissemination, and division of labor. While recent research has highlighted the role of digital technologies in enabling people to mobilize instantaneously without formal organizations, it remains unclear how these networked and often leaderless mobilizations coalesce into sustained and dynamic movements. This article argues that such mass mobilizations can be sustained through “peer collaboration” among ordinary protesters, a mechanism that involves the intimate interplay of online and offline networks in which they are embedded. Based on a mixed-method analysis of Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement of 2019, we demonstrate how peer collaboration enables leaderless protesters to overcome major collective action problems by (1) engendering an informal and distributed leadership structure that protesters willingly follow, (2) channeling useful and customized information to individuals, and (3) building teams with specialized skills to undertake various tasks. By creating makeshift hierarchies and boundaries in the absence of formal leaders, peer collaboration provides the organizational infrastructure necessary for ideas to become actionable and conducive to individual participation. Our findings reveal the backstage workings of leaderless, networked mobilizations and challenge the conventional wisdom that these mobilizations are inherently short-lived.