Draft 3

1. How are online information flows within and between social media platforms related to offline, geographically situated, events?
   alt: How do information flows among social media platforms relate to social gatherings and events?
2. What factors, such as geographic proximity, social media platform use, or demographics, best predict a city’s involvement in the movement (Tobler's first law)?
   alt: Is geographic proximity (Tobler’s first law) still the best predictor of a city’s involvement in the movement?
3. What forms of participation and political expression (conventional and emergent) are being facilitated by social media?
   alt: In what ways do social media facilitate conventional and emergent political participation/expression? [Not much shorter, but putting SM as the subject]
4. How are the protests organizing via social media, and how are these methods different or similar from previous movements?
   alt: Do social media platforms change how protests are organized and spread?

Draft 2

1. Assuming twitter allows us to track information flows geographically, how are online information flows within and between social media platforms related to offline, geographically situated, events?
2. How are online information flows within and between social media platforms related to offline, geographically situated, events?
3. What factors, such as geographic proximity, social media platform use, or demographics, best predict a city’s involvement in the movement (Tobler's first law)?
4. What forms of participation and political expression (conventional and emergent) are being facilitated by social media?
5. How are the protests organizing via social media, and how are these methods different or similar from previous movements?

Draft 1

1. How is information that is publicly available about the Occupy Wall Street movement spreading within and between social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Meetup.com, YouTube and blogs) and mainstream media?
2. What is the relationship between online flows of information and their associated geographies?
3. How are online information flows and offline events, like grass roots local organization formation, related?
4. Are there differences in speed or geographic reach of information flows depending on the social platform (e.g. Twitter vs. Facebook)?
5. Given the affordances of social media, do flows of information adhere to Tobler's first law? (Places closer to one another are more similar than those further apart)
6. Alternately, do characteristics of a location (such as demographics) positively affect information flow and uptake?
7. Do traditional characteristics of place (demographics, access) sufficiently explain variations in geographic spread, or is something else occurring intrinsic to the nature of the social media used?