The contemporary political landscape challenges conventional collective action theory to account for the speed, scale, and flexibility of some emerging forms of collective action. But what does this challenge actually entail? Mancur Olson’s classic theory of collective action has served as benchmark for several important discussions of this question. Seeking to further these endeavours, this paper explores the logic of connective action by shifting attention from the collective dynamics of singular organizational actors to multi-actor communication networks in which technologies become active network agents. In particular, we focus on the conditions under which technologies enable personalized engagement, and the network properties required for that engagement to produce stable and effective action.
