Thursday, May 4, 2017

R8

R8

        Social movements have become increasingly more and more important in day to day lives.  With social media a new way for to promote whats going in the world. Malcolm Gladwell said in his article " Small Change", he says " The new tools of social media have reinvented social activism. With Facebook and Twitter and the like, the traditional relationship between political authority and popular will has been upended, making it easier for the powerless to collaborate, coordinate, and give voice to their concerns." ( Gladwell, 2010) People are know allowed to voice what they have to say thru these social media platforms and retweet and repost what celebrities and politicians both have to say about the changing world.  It is a small change in our everyday lives to be more vocal about what we think about this day in age.  People will take to twitter to bring demonstrators together to support a cause and truly show what is wrong with the cause that they are fighting for.  Gladwell also states, " The kind of activism associated with social media isn't like this at all. The platform of social media are built around weak ties. Twitter is a way of following ( or being followed by) people you may never have met. Facebook is a tool for efficiently managing your acquaintances, for keeping up with the people you would not otherwise for able to stay in touch with." ( Gladwell, 2010) Agreeing with what has been said, twitter is more of a follower based where people might know a few people but Facebook is where you have friends that you met thru school or even social events.

         Social movements would not be so prominent without a fuel to a fire, " The collective resistance of those protests  coalesced early on into what is now known as the Black Lives Matter movement. BLM , further fueled by the deaths of Eric Garner, Sandra Blacnd, Tamir Rice, and countless others, has become one of the most vibrant political forces of our time." ( Opam, 2016)  With social media usage at an all time high, people are able to use Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and even Snap chat to voice what they have to say about the killing of these innocent people.  They are able to shine light on the situation and speak what they need to say without people judging what they have to say. 

       An interview that took place with  Baltimore's very own Deray McKesson, he stated  that, " I love Twitter." (Opam, 2016) With the rise of social media and being able to get a group of people together and march on the streets of Baltimore and any major cities to bring awareness to the deaths and also to seek justice for the wrongful deaths. 

     I believe that social media will bring awareness to the cause because everyone is on some type of social media platform and with that they are able to voice what they have to say. There is never a huge social issue that doesn't come across someones news feed and shed light on what is actually going on. Social media will always be a major part of everyones day to day life and it will have a huge impact of another hot topic that happens in peoples day to day lives. People will able to use their platforms to hold rallies and to bring light on the negative impact it has on people. 


Works Cited

Gladwell, Malcolm. "Small Change." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 12 May 2015. Web. 03 May 2017.

Opam, Kwame. "DeRay Mckesson on Black Lives Matter and building tools for digital activism | Verge 2021." TheVerge.com. The Verge, 29 Nov. 2016. Web. 03 May 2017.

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