Pros And Cons Of Social Media Activism

“Social media platforms held the promise of being more egalitarian and democratic than mass media in a sense that all users could equally participate and contribute content” (Dijck & Poell, 6). This explains a basic purpose of social media that remains consistent with the democratic values of freedom that the U.S. is founded upon by providing citizens with a platform where they are free to speak their mind. What makes this even more interesting is the ability for people to share their opinions on a stage that has relatively no geographical boundaries. Rather than restricting the spread of individuals’ beliefs, social networking sites help spread messages and information to anyone, faster than was previously possible. According to Dijck and Poell, “social media platforms seldom deal with ‘natural’ geographically or demographically delineated audiences; instead, they expedite connections between individuals, partly allowing the formation of strategic alliances or communities through users’ initiative” (Dijck & Poell, 8). Social networking sites are naturally designed to increase connectivity and interactions among individuals with common interests or beliefs. The idea of connectivity has significantly influenced the way in which protests are held in America and around the world.

In his article “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell complains that the casual, low-stakes activism that takes place on social media will never make a difference in the real world, and that sharing political posts online does not have nearly as powerful an effect as physical, real-life activism. He claims that the Internet allows us to feel disconnected from the issue at hand, and unless people feel true, personal outrage about something, and are willing to make concrete sacrifices, big-picture change is a hopeless pursuit. While I find myself primarily agreeing with Gladwell, I believe he doesn’t give social media enough credit for all that it can do for the world of activism when used effectively.

In the article “The Case for Social Media and Hashtag Activism” Sabina Khan-Ibarra makes the statement “As an activist, I saw social media as an opportunity to spread the word about various causes at a faster rate, and to a bigger number of people, than through traditional methods.” This is the main reason I believe that social media is extremely useful for activism, in mere seconds, your message can be reached by millions upon millions of people.

The New Yorker had a piece called, “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted,” by Malcolm Gladwell in the magazine on October 4, 2010. Overall the piece discussed social activism that occurred in the 1960’s to the era when social media took a more prominent role in everyday life. He explains the role of social media and social activism through examples of past protests and how it was said that social media was a tool that has reinvented social activism. He also explains the differences between both social media and hierarchies. Others can argue over both topics but the evidence used to back up Gladwell’s claims, made it clear for myself to agree that social media hasn’t made as big of an impact as other might think.

Mark Granovetter, a sociologist had once said “Our Acquaintances, not our friends, are our greatest source of new ideas and information”. With social media it reinvented social activism, and it is making it easier for the powerless to collaborate, coordinate, and give voice to their concerns. Although the platforms of social media are built around weak ties because of distant connections that all leads to high risks activism. In the early sixties events such as the sit in have became a civil-rights war that happened in the South for the rest of the decade and with that it happened without social media.

I agree more with Caldwell then I do with Clay Shirky even though they both have valid arguments. Shirky considers the model of activism using social media as an upgrade just because more people can be mobilized faster than they could before using social media. Caldwell’s brings up a good point that social media can simply be used as a form of organizing and getting information. Those relationships that you build are what he calls weak-tie connections and that strong-tie connections are what help us persevere. On the internet you can anonymously post anything you want and most of the times there are no consequences. Behind a keyboard anyone can complain about something but that doesn’t help bring change. Many of the people on social media won’t

In discussions of using social media, one controversial issue has been the impact of social media in modern day revolutions. On the one hand, Malcolm Gladwell argues that social networks cannot establish a connection between people, and it doesn’t have any authority organization to take charge of modern social network environment. On the other hand, social media encourage communication and collaboration. Others even maintain that social network has been become a most important tools of communication in modern society. My own view is that social media can promote social activism development now. Malcolm Gladwell’s theory that social media are not able to help change social movements or promote social development, because it reduce deep connection among people and even doesn’t have a hierarchical organization is overly simplistic, because not all social media make connection broken, and social network also do

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.

Abraham Lincoln said, “The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they are often not true.” This funny, but obviously false, quote is an example of a meme which litters social media today. Senseless memes, along with scam artists, predators, and negativity represent the dark side of social media. There is, however, a lot of good that can come out of social media as well. With millions on social media, exposure to different causes, people in need, or other important issues is widened. In this way, regardless of whatever ills plague social media, these progressive platforms make it worthwhile. Social media continues to expand its presence and being able to use it for good as a vehicle for change may help

Gladwell wrote that “Facebook activism success … by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make real sacrifice” (408-409). Gladwell is contrasting how during the civil rights movement protesters were motivated and deeply rooted in their social injustices to the point that they physically protested. In contrast to the civil rights protesters, today, people are using social media to perform and or start a movement. Even though Gladwell believes that social media has transformed protesting into a lazy practice, today people have used social media as a tool to make real sacrifices. For instance, the “Justice or Else” 20th Million Man March Anniversary protest was organized and promoted via social media. People from all over the country came to Washington, D.C. to protest against all of the recent police brutality on Blacks. Gladwell continued his argument by stating that “it (social media) makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact” (p. 414). In contrast to this premise, activists have used large platforms such as newspapers to reach a huge audience just as activists of today use social media to reach their audience. This revolutionary mass source has enabled activists of today to reach larger audiences than their past counterparts have

Have you used social media to ask for what you want? Have you noticed that social media is the best way to publish the news to the world? Have you ever lost something to save someone’s future? Have you used nonviolence to ask for what you want and how it worked? Actually, social media is a small world where we can find everything that is going on everywhere, and it can tells the world about what you want to say in less than a minute. Also, using social media is part of nonviolent ways, and people believe that using nonviolence to achieve their goal is better than using violence because who use nonviolence usually win and get what they want. The United State is facing some protester who want to end the discrimination of the skin color because

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.

In today’s century social media is the main way to communicate with people with people all over the world. It has become very popular... even more popular than a text or video message. Social media is a computer technology that facilitates the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via communities and networks. The variety of social media services that are currently available can help benefit businesses, introduce an event, or even help you find a friend, family member, or long lost soulmate. Some social sites even help you find love. However, there are many positive things that can come out social media but there are many negatives too.