Using social media for activism can be both a blessing and a hindrance to one’s cause. On the one hand, it can spread word of an issue that might not be covered by the news; however, the casual and performative nature of social media users can have a negative impact on the issue.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s essay “Small Change” he describes the difference of activism today on social media compared to what it used to be. He writes that, “High-risk activism, McAdam concluded, is a “strong-tie” phenomenon [...] The platforms of social media are built around weak ties” (Gladwell). This type of activism separates itself from the past because whereas before people who attended protests were passionate enough about an issue that they were willing to risk arrest, whereas today you can participate in a protest without even leaving your house. Gladwell continues by describing how social media activism campaigns attract so many people by say writing “But how did the campaign get so many people to sign up? By not asking too much of them. That’s the only way you can get someone you don’t really know to do something on your behalf” (Gladwell). By using social media people can demonstrate their support for an issue that “fits their schedule” and does not necessarily impact their life. On the contrary for example, after the attacks in Paris a majority of people were changing their profile pictures with the colored filter for awareness and remembrance.
This was interesting because since so many people were doing it, you felt more pressure to also join in perhaps in the fear people would have a negative opinion of you for not showing your support. By making the ability to “spread awareness” or participate in activism so easy, social media almost seems to take away from the problem by belittling it into an act for people to show off to their network.
Another example of this was the Standing Rock Dakota Access Pipeline protest which utilized social media to garner worldwide attention. The protest gained attention by having people worldwide “Check in” to the protest on Facebook along with a hashtag #NoDAPL.
Even though they were able to spread awareness to a global audience through social media, many people did not understand it fully and made a joke of the situation. For example, there were reports during the protest that “people have turned up to the Standing Rock demonstration to soak up the “cultural experience”, and are treating the camp like it is “Burning Man” festival or “The Rainbow Gathering” (Sisley). Having heard through social media, many people thought it was “cool” to join in on this protest yet were completely uneducated and even treated it like a music festival or a vacation with friends. Below is one Tweet from a protester trying to address this issue:
Works Cited
Gladwell, Malcolm. "Small Change." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 12 May 2015. Web. 04
May 2017.
Sisley, Dominique. "People Are Treating the DAPL Protest 'like Burning Man'." Dazed. N.p., 25 Nov. 2016. Web. 04 May 2017. <http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/33832/1/people-are-treating-the-dapl-protest-like-burning-man>.
Javier, Carla. "A Timeline of the Year of Resistance at Standing Rock." Fusion. Fusion.kinja.com, 14 Dec. 2016. Web. 04 May 2017. <http://fusion.kinja.com/a-timeline-of-the-year-of-resistance-at-standing-rock-1794269727>.
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