The Importance of Social Media for Social Change
Change, by itself, is hard. No one really wants to do it even if it is the right thing to do. Trying to get a bunch of people to change is even harder. All of the members of a community have to see value in the message, they have to own it, they have to be willing to put pen to paper and market that change to others. In he modern era, social media has been the conduit in which people are made aware of a change. The worldwide web ties each of us together through news feeds, articles, blog posts, and even listening to the radio over the Internet. We've talked in other blog articles about the power of social media to have diverse groups listen to your message. This only works because there are relatively a small number of social media providers that the world's masses interact with, thus providing the common platform to send and receive a message. This is why so many hashtag issues have gained prominence in our news feeds, social media posts, and messages. Today's topic is the effectiveness of using Social Media to achieve the Social Good.
ThHe Pew Research center put out an article about using Social Media for Social Change. Here are some highlights from the article:
"Around half of Americans have engaged in some form of political or Social-minded activity on Social Media in the past year.
Roughly half of black social Media users say these platforms are personally important to them when it comes to expressing their political views or getting involved with issues they feel are important.
A majority of Americans think social media are important for getting elected officials to pay attention to issues or for initiating sustained social movements.
About two-thirds of Americans think social media help give a voice to underrepresented groups, but a larger share thinks they distract people from more important issues.
The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag has been a relatively consistent presence on Twitter for the last five years, with periodic increases in usage around key events.
Beyond #BlackLivesMatter: Differences in the evolution of select hashtags tied to political causes or social issues.
A case study of topics mentioned in Twitter discussions involving the #BlackLivesMatter, #BlueLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter hashtags
The identified topics related to these hashtags include:
- Fatal police-related encounters – These tweets mention specific names of people who have had fatal encounters with law enforcement.
- Violent acts in general – These tweets mention specific acts of violence, regardless of whether those occurred in the context of law enforcement.
- Police and law enforcement – These tweets mention police, law enforcement actions, counter-protest measures, and general references to law enforcement. Mentions of shootings or other actions are not included unless they explicitly mention law enforcement or police.
- National politicians and political parties – These tweets mention specific politicians, elected officials, or political parties. Mentions of local politicians or elected officials are not included.
- Race – These tweets explicitly mention race, a particular racial or ethnic group, or racial discrimination. This category does not include references to culture, religion or immigration unless a specific race or ethnicity is mentioned
- Protests – These tweets mention activist events, specific protests or the general act of protesting." (1)
Bibliography
(1) "Activism in the Social Media Age", Pew Research Center, (July 11, 2018),
http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/07/11/activism-in-the-social-media-age/
