Social Media, Political Discussion, and Political Protest: A Case Study of the 2018 Political Protests in Iran

The present paper examines the role of social media as a platform for political discussion and its effects on political protest. Social media users are expected to increase their political discussion within these social media, which will also boost their protest spirit in society. The statistical population of the study is Mashhad, the second-largest city in Iran, where 860 people were analyzed as a sample. The results depict that social media, either directly or indirectly, through the mediating variable of political discussion, reinforces the tendency to protest in society. Moreover, using social media for social interaction does not directly impact political protest, but this variable can indirectly increase the inclination to protest in society through the mediating variable of political discussion.