is the Director of the Oxford Internet Institute. She is a political scientist specializing in e-government and digital era governance and politics. Margetts’ recent publications include Paradoxes of Modernization: Unintended Consequences of Public Policy Reform, of which she is co-editor with Perri 6 and Christopher Hood (Oxford University Press, 2010); and Digital Era Governance: IT Corporations, the State, and e-Government, of which she is co-author with Patrick Dunleavy, Simon Bastow and Jane Tinkler (Oxford University Press, 2008).
Social media extend the range of participatory acts open to citizens. The result can be unpredictable leaderless mobilizations involving massive numbers of small donations of time and effort. And although the vast majority fail absolutely, a few succeed dramatically.