Social media have become an important tool in our interactions and networks. Studies around social movements focused on these platforms’ potential for becoming a new public sphere given their nature and features. However, an address of their influence on social engagement can’t overshadow they’re used by social actors themselves part of a greater social frame. Thus, the question here is whether these technologies really represent a new way for us to communicate, or they constitute an additional forum for that end. In this light, a qualitative characterization of Facebook's role on Portuguese anti-austerity social movements ‘Geracao a Rasca' and ‘Que se lixe a troika!' is presented through discourse analysis of the testimony of several of their founding members. While it may be unquestionable Facebook had an important role in these movements, it wasn't the only tool used or the most relevant for internal and external communication.

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Social Movements,Collective Action,Social Media,Facebook