Social media framing within the Million Hoodies movement for justice

•This article examines activism and social media framing.•Textual analysis was conducted of activist network Million Hoodies’ Facebook page.•Examples of core framing and frame alignment processes were identified and illustrated through posts’ texts and shared content within posts.•Core framing and alignment processes were determined to be an efficacious theoretical framework for understanding how online content creators use strategic messaging to engage and motivate followers as well as broaden their base of support.