R8: Is Being Active on Social Media Social Activism?

Social media is not as powerful a tool as people consider it to be when applied to social activism. This, at least, is what Gladwell believes. He believes that social media is excellent for creating networks, but that these networks are not nearly as powerful as hierarchical social activist groups. These networks are not powerful because the members have weak ties with each other and, since everyone has an equally powerful voice, there usually is not a leader.

My thoughts on the subject are in line with Gladwell’s thinking. I do not see social media as a powerful tool for social change, but I do think it is great at informing people about a situation so long as enough people don’t fall prey to false news. I feel that social media movements come and go on a whim, a feeling that is shared by Todd Gitlin, who said “Social media are like wisps of oxygen – they get people excited but then they wear out.” Gitlin cited the Occupy Wall Street movement as an example. Yes some people were moved to action, but it came and went.

I believe another good example is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Social media was vital in informing people around the world of the cause to raise money for research of ALS, and about $115 million was raised. This sounds impressive, but the excitement around this event lasted for part of the summer of 2014. The next summer, a mere $1 million was donated.

An example that I feel was largely ineffective is the Women’s March. The cause was there, the people were there, but the results…I’m not really sure if there were any results. President Trump tweeted in response, but did anything else happen? There were other marches that happened too, but nothing really came of those either. That being said, these marches would likely have not taken place on such a large scale without the aid of social media, and yet it seems it didn’t matter. The marches had about the same results as 500,000 people would have had if they had just tweeted about it.

DeRay McKesson says, “A protester is not only somebody who disrupts a board meeting. An organizer is not only somebody who sits in the basement of a church every Wednesday. We have pushed the boundaries. When I think about what it means to protest, a protester is somebody who tells the truth in public and there are many ways to do that.” (Opam) I don’t believe that simply saying what is true is protesting though. Stating a fact is just that, it isn’t protesting until you start doing something about it.

Social media is a powerful tool, but there are many protests and causes that have not used it effectively, and many others whose achievements are falsely attributed to social media. Gladwell mentions that social media “makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact.” People can say all kinds of truths on social media, but there isn’t as much of an impact until the people are organized and start fighting for their causes off of social media.

References

Gladwell, Malcolm. "Small Change." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 12 May 2015. Web. 03 May 2017. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell.

Opam, Kwame. "DeRay Mckesson on Black Lives Matter and building tools for digital activism | Verge 2021." TheVerge.com. N.p., 29 Nov. 2016. Web. 03 May 2017. https://www.theverge.com/a/verge-2021/deray-mckesson-interview-black-lives-matter-digital-activism.

Lee, Erin. "How effective is social media activism?" The Dartmouth. N.p., 12 Feb. 2016. Web. 03 May 2017. http://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2016/02/how-effective-is-social-media-activism/.