Social Networks and Popular Movements in Brazil

Brazil witnessed, in 2013, a growing wave of social manifestations that spread throughout the country. Initiated by secondary school and college students, the movement took over an increasingly large dimension potentialized mostly by the use of social networks. With diverse causes, the movements revealed a generalized popular insatisfaction, which is compared to that of specific historical moments of the country, such as the movement Diretas Já and the support towards the impeachment of president Fernando Collor de Melo. This article specifically intends to discuss the appropriation from the popular manifestations of a concept created by an advertisement campaign launched by and automaker on the occasion of the Confederations Cup of football. The campaign, called “Vem pra rua” (meaning “come to the streets”), was subversively used in the realm of the social manifestations symbolizing the calling for all the population to join the manifestations for the defense of diverse causes, such as the improvement of public transportation, education, healthcare, the end of corruption, among others. From the standpoint of the social movements, which were the meanings (re)built from the appropriation of the campaign? How should the automaker deal with this situation? The initially violent reaction of the government towards the manifestations gave the movement strength, because it brought up the discussion about the freedom of speech, in all instances. In this context, it was demanded of all social actors to give their opinion and position themselves on the debated matters and about the consequences of the movement in general. It is thus necessary to discuss about how a social movement can appropriate of social networks and of the institutional discourse of an organization and the role that social networks play today in social manifestations in opposition to traditional media and the role of the government.