The rise of digital communication technologies has significantly changed how people participate in social protests. Digital platforms—such as social media—have enabled individuals to organize and mobilize protests on a global scale. As a result, there has been a growing interest in understanding the role of digital communication in social protests. This manuscript provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the evolution of research on digital communication and social protests from 2008 to 2022. The study employs bibliometric methodology to analyze a sample of 260 research articles extracted from the SCOPUS core collection. The findings indicate a significant increase in scholarly investigations about digital communication and its role in social protest movements during the past decade. The number of publications on this topic has increased significantly since 2012—peaking in 2022—indicating a heightened interest following COVID-19. The United States, United Kingdom, and Spain are the leading countries in publication output on this topic. The analysis underlines scholars employing a range of theoretical perspectives—including social movement theory, network theory, and media studies—to identify the relationship between digital communication and social protests. Social media platforms—X (Twitter), Facebook, and YouTube—are the most frequently studied and utilized digital communication tools engaged in social protests. The study concludes by identifying emerging topics relating to social movements, political communication, and protest, thereby suggesting gaps and opportunities for future research.

This research explores the role of social media in the political construction of identity, analyzing how these platforms mediate the expression and formation of individual and group political identities. The focus is on how social media changes the dynamics of communication and social interaction, facilitating the formation of “echo chambers” and increasing political polarization. Additionally, this study highlights challenges such as disinformation and the implications of social media for the health of democracy. As a researcher, I aim to highlight the broader implications of using social media in identity politics. By analyzing the impact of social media on political dynamics in Indonesia, this study reveals how social media influences public perception and political decisions. This study identifies how social media can be used as a tool to mobilize political support, but also how these platforms can spread disinformation and reinforce political polarization. Based on these concerns, researchers have not yet found research results that examine how social media specifically impacts the construction of political identity. This research aims to highlight how social media not only acts as a communication tool but also as a medium that influences the way individuals view and express their political identity. Through a qualitative approach, this study provides new insights into the impact of social media in contemporary political dynamics and the importance of digital literacy in addressing issues of identity politics in the digital era.