The Impact Of Social Media On Social Movements

With the enhancement in technology, it is now accessible to communicate and connect with people across the world. It is effortless to share information like pictures, advertisements, videos and text messages all over the world, to whomever you desire. To many people, it is perceived as a form of entertainment. However, many people do not realize it can also be used as a form of social activism. Summer Harlow author of "Social media and social movements: Facebook and an online Guatemalan justice movement that moved offline" argues that social media is very effective to create social (online) and physical (offline) activism. While Malcolm Gladwell author of "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted" identifies that internet activism is an instant frenzy that creates a brief impact but is not adequate enough to remain on its own. When media is used as an intellectual resource for activism it can expose people 's conscious about diverse predicaments or movements occurring around the globe. In today 's contemporary society people had the power to create a significant change in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community by having same sex marriage legalized in all 50 states. The hashtag #LoveWins became possible in the United States by social and physical activism which included engagement with social networks.

Black Lives Matter movement spread awareness through protesting, petitioning, writing formal letters to local police departments and the District Attorney of the United States. However social media is what helped draw attention to the ongoing violence against the black people. Hashtags, Instagram photos, and videos drew a broad and nonverbal attention to police wrongdoings. Social media helped as it makes up effective communities by uniting those that support the social action. “Social media keeps advocates and allies informed, as well as create a quick and easy vehicle through which to keep activists informed and how social media creates verbal opportunities for a solid change”. (Langford, Montené, 2015).

The Civil Rights movement in the U.S. during the 1950’s and 60’s showed how effective activism is on political issues. Under the leadership of major civil figures, most notably Dr. Martin Luther King, the organized and peaceful movement brought about major change to the civil rights of African Americans and other minorities. Moreover, this movement made historical strides in changing U.S. policy, and did so without the use of social media. Today, social media activism is merely a means to an end. Social media can share a vast amount of information, and raise awareness on a broad spectrum of issues. However, the ability to make major changes on government policy, as proven by many occurrences in history, requires high-risk activism under an organized hierarchy. I argue that social media is not an effective tool for political actions because it lacks the necessary traits to make an effective impact.

John Green, and his brother Hank use their internet fame for activism. John and his brother Hank have created an organization that has been around since 2007, and is still active today. The idea of this organization, known as Project For Awesome, was to be able to give to multiple organizations. With their large following, the two brothers had the idea of letting their followers choose which organizations to donate to.

Anyone watching the news, using social media, or walking down a street in a large city has most likely seen or heard the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” Black Lives Matter is an organization founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, but these are just the chief founders in the organization. The major reason that this organization formed is due to the shooting on February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida, of a black man named Trayvon Martin who was shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch member. Zimmerman went to court and was found not guilty for second degree murder. This caused an uproar of riots in the black community, making this the powder keg for the Black Lives Matter organization.

In summation, we looked at social conflict as it related to class, race and ethnicity, gender, and how it explains the Black Lives Matter Movement. As we examined the literature, we asked how and why did the Black Lives Matter Movement begin? What are the problems with the Black Lives Matter Movement? What does social media have to say about the Black Lives Matter Movement? What is the youth’s culture’s input on the Black Lives Matter Movement? How does the Black Lives Matter movement tie back to the police? And where are we going with the Black Lives Matter Movement post-2016? We focused on whether or not the Black Lives Matter movement had the potential to affect change and have a long-lasting impact on society as a social movement. Therefore,

The two articles I read for ThinkCERCA were about activism using social media. They highlighted one particular example, Wael Gonhim’s Facebook page, Kullena Khaled Said. Using social media, he was able to hear about a current event, and make a difference. The question was “Based on the evidence provided in these two articles and the visual sources, how did social media affect the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt?”

The 45th president Donald Trump had a long journey to get to the point he is now and the struggle of American citizens of the United States accepting him. The media is not helpful President Trump is always being denounced, reworded, and despised. Topics that are typically controversial usually about gay rights, women's rights, and racism are always picked out, and used against him and the media feeds off it and then takes the info and feeds it to the citizens. Some journalist that speaks the truth believe Donald Trump did everything right and rightfully won the election. Other American citizens get angry and start violent protests. Our Democracy allows other ways to state your opinion and bring change to the Presidency without violent protests.

Another case backing up the role that social media can play in creating change is that of Oksana Makar. On the 8th of March 2012, eighteen year old Makar was attacked, raped, set on fire and left to die by three men in Mykolayiv, Ukraine (BBC, 2012). Makar survived the attack and was able to identify the men, but subsequently died of her burns and lung failure in hospital days later (BBC, 2012). The men were arrested, but two were let go without any charges because of the political connections of their parents (BBC, 2012). It seemed as though they were going to get away with their crime scot-free, until Makar’s mother posted a video on Youtube of her daughter in hospital, showing her horrendous injuries(BBC, 2012). The video caused worldwide

When you are suffering from a debilitating addiction, it 's easy to feel alone, isolated, and frightened during recovery. However, the emergence of social media has helped connect the world in a way never imagined. And you can tap into these brand new resource as a tool towards fueling our recovery and regaining a life of sobriety.

As a logical consequence, Postmes and Brunsting (2002) reasoned that the Internet is changing society because people's cognitive processes, triggered by access to information and communication, replace the strong social ties that traditionally underpin committed activism. In simpler words, in the past, humanity used the herd instinct as the main driving force behind committed forms of activism. Thanks to the Internet, we climb another step or three on the evolutionary ladder, and simply do away with the herd instinct and replace it with reason. The argument, if put this way, does not sound particularly strong. What can be taken away is that social media is still evolving, that social media changes the way we – or most of us communicate, that social media is used in social and political activism, and that the Internet increases quantitative if not qualitative access to information.

No matter how much potential social media has for political or societal change it is important to criticize its negative aspects. An article written by Andrea Moncada, begins her argument with the question has social media had the same impact on advocacy. Similar to Gladwell’s points of view, Moncada states, “social media can help get the word around, but participants must be united by a core message and traditional methods…” This source of uncertainty is the basis for its support and is understandable.

As technology develops rapidly in the modern society, the broad social influence it brings is also widely discussed, especially about its effects on social change. In the past, social movements were raised without the help of technology, specifically without social media, whereas social media has recently played a non-ignorable role. The connection between social media and social activisms concerned, here come some different voices. Few people maintain that social media now has no practical influence on social change, while others hold the opposite view, thinking social media is already a crucial factor in it. Personally speaking, I agree with the second kind of view: it is true that social media is not able to create social movements by itself in today’s world, but it plays an important and essential part in making real social change.

Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are web-based activities that provide individuals access to build a public or a semi-public profile within a confined system, connect and find users that they share a connection with as well as view and navigate the list of connections that are made by other participants of the systems (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Social media is widely used by young adults contributing to about 84% of the total usage (Smith, 2011). Some of the popular reasons for widespread use of social media are staying in touch with near and dear ones especially with friends and family, making new friends, following famous politicians and celebrities and also in search of potential relationships (Smith, 2011). However as the use of social media becomes more widespread, we cannot help but express concerns over the effects that social media usage may have on our behavior. Over the past couple of decades, research has strongly linked social media usage with negative behavioral outcomes and is known to affect one’s overall well-being. This essay will begin by discussing some of the behavioral issues that result from social media usage, followed by criticisms of this argument. The recommendation will then highlight some ways by which the behavioural problems could be dealt with, acknowledging that self-monitoring and self-regulation are the main ways to tackle the issue.

From the words of United States President Barack Obama "Call your members of Congress. Write them an email. Tweet it using the hashtag #My2K." (Coffee). Social media has played an increasing and larger part in today's government. Social media has the power to influence elections and connect the people to the policy makers in new ways.