Activism and Power in Virtual Social Networks: A Study of Functions of Facebook in the Real World

In recent years, virtual social networks, more than any other type of modern media, have provided a ground for activism. The discourse of power, which made scholars of humanities to interpret such acts from different perspectives, is now defined in the cyberspace in a very complicated and networked manner. Accordingly, the users’ activism gives a way to mobilization and unity of the followers of a certain belief in the virtual media culture.In the present paper, first, using the viewpoints of prominent scholars, different aspects of power especially in recent years are explained in order to present an analysis of the concept of power and the way it emerges and is applied in political, economic and social relations. Then, political, economic and social functions of virtual social networks are described and analyzed in three subjects, namely Tahrir square in the Egyptian Revolution, the Wall Street Movement in the US, and the Mock Combat, Water Guns Festival and support for working children in Iran, which are specifically related to the capacity of Facebook social network and the activism of its users in the real world.