“Partir del núcleo descentrado del poder para analizar lazos débiles o fuertes. Canales desunidos: la red social personal o virtual en la difusión de “CrowdRecycling”,

Abstract

This study analyses the impact of the altruistic project on sustainability Crowd Recycling®. It contrast the impact of personal and virtual social networks used to spread their ideas and philosophy. The importance of this recycling scheme is that was born away from central power exes, so, the departure point of the network is always decentralized of any kind of influence. In fact, is developed in a Portuguese secondary city (Évora), in schools or centers that are not leaders in the country, and with no wealthy people in societal terms: most of them with some degree -or risk- of social exclusion for their gipsy ethnic group or their social origins from non-structured families. At the same time, Crowd Recycling® counts with digital action since the beginning of the project (web page in 2014), and it has been amplified during last years to the virtual world (Facebook 2015, Pinterest 2016, Twitter 2017). Comparing the impact of those personal and virtual social networks, we concludes that both are split, in the way to act and to spread the project. Personal action has a special impact on the affective side, but in a reduced group of the locals, just on the individuals who received the classes or workshops; besides, they don’t act as brokers of the project, using terms of Boissevain (1978:148). Virtual action has an international repercussion, where the force of weak ties (Granovetter, 1963, 2003) helped to get more impact within an almost unknown virtual community. Also, measuring virtual community with Facebook, weak ties manage to help the 65% of the diffusion, whilst the 35% is originated in strong ties (which were essential in the beginning). That social impact of personal activities and virtual networks is acting in different ways because they are from different nature, and they have a different capacity for action when linked to groups excluded from the power. Digital gives measurable quantitative results and seems to be more persuasive in short term. Personal contact is more effective with people with some degree of social exclusion, and is when qualitative field takes more relevance, because it deals with socio emotional feelings, and it can be more important in a long-term period.