Social Media Sociology

To build his argument, he ties in similar examples from history that involve either social or political activism. Not only does he connect these examples to the “weak ties” that the platforms of social media are built upon, but he also offers insight to his readers, the general public, and social-networking gurus (Gladwell 551). In his essay, “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, Gladwell creates a rhetorically effective argument that illustrates why social networking is not an adequate way to conduct social or political activism.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s article “Small Change: The Revolution will not be Tweeted” There is an example of large-scale change which caused by the social media there was Twitter revolution at Moldova, Iran in 2009. People started to use Twitter as a tool for protest the government and it became a huge change. This could be possible because people could argue with more confident when they stand up against government through the Social Media. The Malcolm Gladwell’s response about this kind of social event was “Social media, the traditional relationship between political authority and popular will has been upended, making I easier for the powerless to collaborate, coordinate, and give voice to their concerns” (Paragraph 7, Gladwell) Also he called

Does social media “shrink the world” by bringing us closer together? In his article Small Change, Malcom Gladwell asserts that social media might be connecting more people, but the bonds it forms allow us to stay comfortably separate and avoid impacting meaningful social reform. Gladwell makes it apparent that he believes social media and revolutions are unsuited for each other. His article, written just two months before the beginning of the Arab Spring, was written in response to what some contemporaries have dubbed, “The Twitter Revolution” in Moldova. This revolution, as well as another in Iran, was heralded as examples of the merits of social media, with some even nominating Twitter for the Nobel Peace Prize due to their belief that Twitter had played a major role in these uprisings. Gladwell writes against a sentiment of righteousness and accomplishment that advocates of social media maintain in an attempt to convince people that the true motivation behind social change is conviction. He raises the point that while it is exceedingly easy for someone to join a cause, such as hitting a ‘like’ button, it is far more effortless for them to quit. This sentiment seems to be fueled mostly by opinion, looking only at how social media did not cause revolutions and avoiding analysis regarding how

Gladwell supports his argument by mentioning that the civil rights movement was successful because of the strong bond between participants and hierarchical command structure which social media cannot provide. He also points out the incapability of social media by mentioning that only a portion of participants in Moldova

In this modern age, the majority of society has adapted to social media and the newest technology to fit around our lives. Technology provides tools that are imperative to the making and the use of other tools. It is a tool in itself. Technology is changing rapidly; so rapidly, in fact, there can be cultural gaps between generations. The construction of social media has enabled access to innovative phenomenon, broken barriers, changed our perspectives on ideas, and has even opened doors to new opportunities.

Popular opinion believes that the internet, email and social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat has reinvented social activism for the good, but is this belief really true? In his article, SMALL CHANGE: Why the Revolution Will Not be Tweeted, Malcolm Gladwell makes a compelling argument that this is not really true and in fact, the spread of social media has caused us to lower the bar as to what activism really means. He starts by showing us how activism worked in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement and how in a relatively short period of time thousands of people joined sit-ins and or protests throughout the South - without the use of social media! He describes the movement as a well-orchestrated movement by the NAACP and

I would have to say that I disagree with Gladwell’s analysis of the usage of social media for social justice. I think that social media helps social activism by creating another platform for people to use. Two important causes for me were and still are the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline and against the police brutality against minorities, especially Black people. For both, I was mainly an observer. The sharing of videos, news stories, updates, and more was how I and mainly people around me spread awareness. I am a member of AISES on campus and we, along with NASAC, raised money to donate during the Penny War for NoDAPL. Gladwell mentions that social media allows for weak tie activism, but I would argue that people who have share identities with the cause would be more motivated as well and not just those who know people personally. No one that I knew personally has ever been shot by the police or killed and I do not know anyone from Standing Rock, but I am Native as well as Black. Besides caring about social justice in general, I feel like I need to be involved in some way.

The article “Small Change” was published in The New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell on October 4, 2010-- “the article was aimed to convince the general population that social media is not as dangerous to the status quo as many would be lead to believe” (McMillan). Gladwell is effective in explaining why social media is not adequate enough in achieving social or political change; however this statement is highly incorrect. Within the essay, Gladwell addresses the issue of activism, and the way it is implemented modern-day, verses in the 1960’s. He begins by mentioning how the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement did not utilize any form of social media to bring the participants together, therefore social media is effective by spreading the message to a larger

With the proliferation of technologies, especially the Internet, social networking has become ubiquitous in the modern world. Social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, etc. are the impetus that is ever facilitating rapid creation and exchange of ideas to promote and aid communication. Humans interact by being social, therefore sociology analyses the changes in the social trend. Understanding the sociological perspective on the effects of social media, we find that the social aspect has changed. Comparing the past and present status of our society, it is obvious that there has been a transformation which all points towards the evolution of social media. Social media has changed our culture and has impacted on the way people meet, interact and share ideas; it has changed the perception of how people should communicate with the society. Social interactions have been defined to be an exchange among individuals with the aim of strengthening the society. Social interaction is building block in every society when people meet and interact; they define rules, systems, and institutions in which they will live by. On the other hand, social media is known as a platform that allows people to network and socialize through applications and websites that have been innovated. Though social media could be used as a useful tool to communicate with friends, family and even with people you do not know, however, researchers show that social media is absolutely harming human's skills to have

5.  Pages 443, 445, text, social movements. Write about Facebook, other social networking sites and their impact on society.(good and bad)

The trials and tribulations of the past are similar to the obstacles that oppressed people face today. Despite this commonality, the means of social change have been greatly altered into a technology based process. In the past people would organize protests via newspapers, flyers and or word of mouth. Protests in the past consisted of people who were connected to the protest organizers (Gladwell p. 405). Today protest are made up of people from all over the nation who gather together and join forces to fight social injustices of the world. There have been several successful acts of activism that occurred solely due to the tools that social media has given activists. Gladwell is against social media and devalues its relevance in today's strive for social justice. He states that we have "forgotten what activism is" (Gladwell p.404). In his work "Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted", Malcolm Gladwell claimed that due to social media's lack of hierarchical structure and inadequate ability to create secure human connections, social media disables real activism. But real activism is making your voice heard on a particular issue and being involved. There is no way he can define being involved with a particular

Communities are all about groups of individuals who share something in common. This makes going on the internet seem like an odd way to find more communities, form new ones, or strengthen pre-existing ones. The internet however is full of communities. Communities can be based upon religion, location, ethnicity, an interest, or a personal matter. The internet itself is “a global distributed data communications network” (Kirmayer, Raikhel, & Rahimi, 2013, p. 166). This is what makes the internet so full of communities because communication is the key to putting multiple individuals with commonalities into communication, which is the basis of any community. Online communities differ from communities that exists off the web in a couple of

A community can be defined in many ways. The most basic definition is a group of people sharing common interests, thoughts, beliefs, or values. Today's fastest growing and most diverse communities are those experienced through the Internet. In the article "Everyone's a Critic," Richard Lacayo describes the many communities where people can express their feelings on books, movies, music, and restaurants. His representation of online communities can be shared with that of Amy Bruckman's in her article 'Finding One's Own in Cyberspace." Both articles represent online communities as one of today's fastest and easiest ways of sharing your thoughts with the rest of the world. With shared views about the Net, both

Community is a broad concept within the social sciences (sociology specifically) and one that is used frequently. It is one of the most vague and ambiguous terms, yet is commonplace to everyday life. The core concept of the term refers to social bonds and connections that exist between individuals in a particular geographical location. However vague the term may be, ‘Community’ as a construct is indeed of great importance when attempting to understand the impact of an era of social, political, economic, cultural and technological change.

The ideology of community is a multidimensional virtual web of personal connections, transcending time to evolve ideas involving community formation and participation (Baym, 2010,Miller, 2011.)