[Air-L] My book, Twitter and Tear Gas, on networked social movements is almost out! And a plea!

Mon May 15 08:01:45 PDT 2017

Greetings!

I cited one of your publications for my hopefully coming paper!!!
On the role of Internet in addressing corruption across political regimes.

Best,

Mergen

15 мая 2017 г. 22:40 пользователь "Zeynep Tufekci" <socnetres at gmail.com>
написал:

Dear Friends,

My book, *Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked
Protest*, is officially out on May 16th! That is tomorrow! It is published
with an academic press, and has a lot of conceptual work and engages
theories social movements, public sphere and technology, but I tried to
write it with as much narrative structure as possible to make it readable
to broadest audiences.

Some news: there will be a free creative commons copy of my book. It will
be available as a free PDF download in addition to being sold as a bound
book. This is with the hopes that anyone who wants to read it can do so
without worrying about the cost. However, this also means that I need to
ask that a few people who can afford to do so to please consider purchasing
a copy
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/zeynepnotes/my-book-
twitter-and-tear-gas-is-out-some-news-about-it-and-a-
small-plea/8428745-www.amazon.com/twitter-tear-gas-fragility-networked/dp/
0300215126?c=ac41426a-ff61-4d79-bab6-4799c56fb03a>.
This is not just so that Yale University Press can do this for more
authors, but also because if it is not sold (at least a little bit!) in the
initial few weeks, bookstores will not stock it and online algorithms will
show it to fewer people. No sales will mean less visibility, and less
incentive for publishers to allow other authors creative commons copies.

Another request I have is that, if you do read it  (and especially if you
liked it, heh!), please consider leaving a review on Amazon
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/zeynepnotes/my-book-
twitter-and-tear-gas-is-out-some-news-about-it-and-a-
small-plea/8428745-www.amazon.com/twitter-tear-gas-fragility-networked/dp/
0300215126?c=ac41426a-ff61-4d79-bab6-4799c56fb03a>
 or Goodreads
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/zeynepnotes/my-book-
twitter-and-tear-gas-is-out-some-news-about-it-and-a-small-plea/8428749-www.
goodreads.com/book/show/32714239-twitter-and-tear-gas?
c=ac41426a-ff61-4d79-bab6-4799c56fb03a>.
This is not an attempt to inflate its reviews but a request to help me
fight back the inevitable attempts to suppress books like mine that talk
about about repressive governments and censorship and other hot-button
topics. (If you follow me on Twitter, you can see that I constantly do
engage with negative criticisms and welcome feedback, good or bad). Given
my topics, my book is likely to be targeted by a deliberate campaign to
suppress its visibility because the trolls who game algorithms know that
books that are negatively rated are shown to fewer people, and also that
even when people know that some reviews are just shills, the initial
impression means something. If you search for a book on Google, all you see
is the number of stars with no context whether a good deal of those are
one-star reviews that are purposefully malicious, and are not by readers of
the book. This has happened to other books like this, and I've already
started seeing a few signs targeting my book. A flood of actual reviews not
only fights that off and averages out the "one star ratings" of trolls, it
signals that it's not worth the effort to try to torpedo it this way. (On a
side note! What a world!)

I negotiated the creative commons copy with my (wonderful!) publisher Yale
University Press because I really wanted to do what I could to share my
insights as broadly as I could about social movements and the networked
public sphere. If I make a penny more from this book because it sells well
by some miracle, I will donate every extra penny to groups supporting
refugees, and if I ever meet you in person and you purchased a copy of the
book in support, please let me know and I'll buy the coffee or beer. :-D
This isn't at all about money for me.

Encouraging more free creative commons copies is especially important
people in developing countries for whom book delivery and cost is an issue,
and I was such a person until I came over to the United States. I was never
able to afford or find all the books I wanted to read. This also helps
undergraduate and graduate students help pay less for books that they need.
 If some of you buy this book, publishers can feel more empowered to let
other authors also provide free copies online. It is not as easy as "just
blog your material." I do a lot of that, but writing a book that is
coherent and more readable takes a lot of effort and editing from the
publisher, and they can't just do that for free.

So if you can afford it: please consider purchasing my book. Amazon link is
here
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/zeynepnotes/my-book-
twitter-and-tear-gas-is-out-some-news-about-it-and-a-
small-plea/8428745-www.amazon.com/twitter-tear-gas-fragility-networked/dp/
0300215126?c=ac41426a-ff61-4d79-bab6-4799c56fb03a>,
and Yale University Press link with other options for purchase is here
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/zeynepnotes/my-book-
twitter-and-tear-gas-is-out-some-news-about-it-and-a-
small-plea/8428757-yalebooks.com/book/9780300215120/twitter-and-tear-gas?c=
ac41426a-ff61-4d79-bab6-4799c56fb03a>.
(Ordering it today counts as a "pre-order", a stronger signal to the
algorithms and bookstores!). I will announce the website and the creative
commons copy soon, on social media and on my next newsletter
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/zeynepnotes/my-book-
twitter-and-tear-gas-is-out-some-news-about-it-and-a-
small-plea/8428761-tinyletter.com/zeynepnotes?c=ac41426a-
ff61-4d79-bab6-4799c56fb03a>
.

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me and interacted with me
through the years. If you do end up reading the book, please do know that I
would love to hear from you. I may need to fight back trolls online, but I
truly appreciate feedback and consider it a gift.

best,
-zeynep

Review of Twitter and Tear Gas from Inside Higher Education
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/zeynepnotes/my-book-
twitter-and-tear-gas-is-out-some-news-about-it-and-a-small-plea/8428765-www.
insidehighered.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/when-internet-angry?c=ac41426a-
ff61-4d79-bab6-4799c56fb03a>
:

If you’re interested in what’s happening in the world today, this book is a
fascinating read. Even if you’re not, it's an unusually informative book
about digital platforms usually examined apart from political life.
Social interactions in the digital world in the context of political
activity is insightfully explored through this wonderfully readable
academic study.

Publishers Weekly
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/zeynepnotes/my-book-
twitter-and-tear-gas-is-out-some-news-about-it-and-a-small-plea/8428769-www.
publishersweekly.com/9780300215120?c=ac41426a-ff61-4d79-bab6-4799c56fb03a>
:

This insightful and analytical account of mass protest in the 21st century
focuses on the “intertwined” power and weaknesses of new technologies that
can be used to galvanize large numbers of people. ... This comprehensive,
thought-provoking work makes a valuable contribution to understanding
recent political developments and provides a clear path by which grassroots
organizers can improve future efforts.

Financial Times
<http://mail01.tinyletterapp.com/zeynepnotes/my-book-
twitter-and-tear-gas-is-out-some-news-about-it-and-a-
small-plea/8428773-www.ft.com/content/8eb634ce-2f36-11e7-
9555-23ef563ecf9a?c=ac41426a-ff61-4d79-bab6-4799c56fb03a>
:

The author is also insightful on how governments and politicians are moving
from censorship, no easy task on social media, to attention-grabbing and
misinformation. “Just as attention is under-appreciated as a resource for
social movements, distractions and ignorance are under-appreciated as
methods of repression through denial of attention,” she writes. Sowing
cynicism is a powerful tool against protest: “If everything is in doubt,
while the world is run by secret cabals that successfully manipulate
everything behind the scenes, why bother?”

Twitter and Tear Gas is packed with evidence on how social media has
changed social movements, based on rigorous research and placed in
historical context.

--
----
Zeynep Tufekci, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, University of North Carolina
Contributing Opinion Writer <http://www.nytimes.com/column/zeynep-tufekci>,
The New York Times
Faculty Associate Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society

Newsletter: http://tinyletter.com/zeynepnotes
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@zeynep
Website: http://www.technosociology.org
_______________________________________________
The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/
listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
http://www.aoir.org/