The citizen reaction in contemporany hypermedia society. The case of the mobilization for the disappeared Mexican Students from Ayotzinapa

The article presents, from the field of socioemiotics, the analysis of the protest movements united to the media social networks by the disappearance of 43 students of the Normal School of Ayotzinapa, in the municipality of Iguala in Guerrero, Mexico. For the methodology, we used the analysis of the mass media semiotics and the analysis of the contemporary media circulation. We discussed the relationship between social networks, public space and contemporary social movements; the history of Mexican protests articulated with social networks and their effects on social, political and media life; as well as the circulation of the political in the protest movement on the case of the 43 missing students. Finally, the article shows the new types of relations between the collective of citizens, political actors and political institution; conformation of a community in social networks –articulated through a hashtag– accompanied by a community in urban space; and the production of phase changes and descending movements towards social networks through television interventions of actors belonging to the governing political institution. We conclude that these changes and movements are a reaction to the State intervention and vice versa, the political institution had a reaction to the citizen protests. This work shows the possibility of conceptualizing protest movements throughout hypermedia theories.