Introduction As low levels of 'conventional' participation are being noted, the pattern of participation in political matters is changing. Political protest is on the rise in all of its forms from petition signing (demanding the least commitment) to public demonstrations and violent protests (the other extreme) (Moyser, 2003). This essay will focus on political protest in its more extreme form – the form of lawful and unlawful mass protests. In the wake of the 21st century, technology is spreading quickly to every corner of the globe and access to the Internet, smartphones, and computers is easier than ever before. Social media are one of the prominent uses of these technologies, mostly by youth, but use of social media by other demographic semgments of the society are on a rise. The number of social media users is increasing every second and the amount of statuses, tweets, images, and videos they produce is more than overwhelming. There are over 1,15 billion facebook users, and over 500 million of both Google+ and Twitter users with their numbers growing every day (Ajmera, 2013). Also, over 23% of Facebook users log in more than 5 times per day! (ibid) Various kinds of social media brought with themselves new opportunities and methods to express oneself and to gain popular support. They have brought new means and methods of mobilizing society, whatever the objective might be. This essay will try to analyse how social media affect the way protests are organized, executed, and how can the aftermath of a protest be influenced by them. The impacts being argumented for and explained in this paper are: a) social media offer an alternative channel of event coverage, which is not controlled by governments thus changing the perception of ... ... middle of paper ... ...2. Fitzpatrick, A., (2013, June 3) Turkey Protesters Take to Twitter as Local Media Turns a Blind Eye. Mashable. Retrieved January 7, 2014, from http://mashable.com/2013/06/03/twitter-turkey-protests/ Letshc, C.,(2013, December 28) Turkey: Erdogan under new pressure to quit as protesters take to the streets. The Guardian. Retrieved January 6,2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/28/erdogan-pressure-quit-turkey-protests Levinson, C. (2005) Egypt's Growing Blogger Community Pushes Limit of Dissent. Christian Science Monitor, 24 august. Moyser, G. (2003) ´Political Participation´in: Axtmann, R.(ed.) Understanding Democratic Politics. London: Sage Publications, pp.174-187. Tadros, S., (2011, February 2) The Story of the Egyptian Revolution. American Thinker. Retrieved from http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/02/the_story_of_the_egyptian_revo.html
“Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” by Malcolm Gladwell is an article published in the Annals of Innovation, by The New Yorker magazine. Gladwell starts with an example of true activism. He opens the article with a depiction of how the Greensboro sit-ins contributed to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Then the author supplies two examples of protests that have taken place in recent years that some people have said were started and organized on Twitter. He then goes on to clarify why Twitter was not a factor in these events and how media and government can distort certain truths about social media’s role in protests. The author continues the article by explaining why communication and relationships were more efficient before the era of social media and then compares social networking from the past and now. He uses this strategy to illustrate social media’s effect on how we interact and our commitment towards one another. Gladwell goes on to explain the organization of activist groups of the past and its
The article named “spring awakening” wrote by Jose Vargas describes the impact of social media in converting the mentality of young Egyptian generations into bold and defend their inalienable rights as a citizen. This article justifies how social media can mobilize a tremendous number of people to stand up for their rights. The reasons that inspire my emotion is emerging of “Wael Ghonim” as a legendary vocal figure of action for change, revelation of social media as earthquake for change, and fundamental soci-political change.
I am reading the “The Bass, the River, and the Sheila Mant” by W.D. Wetherell. The story is about a 14 year old boy who is in love with this girl but is also in love with a fish and has to choose between the two. In this journal I will be questioning and ______________.
Protests have long been a way for people to display their difference in opinion and gain support. One of the many protests against the war that had a powerful effect on public opini...
I am reading “The Bass, River, and Sheila Mant” By: W.D. Wetherell. This story is about, a 14-year-old boy who has a massive crush on this 17-year-old girl, Sheila. He watches her and fishes and builds up the courage to ask her out. In this journal I will be questioning
I am reading “The Bass, the River, and Shelia Mant” by W.D. Wetherell. The story is about a boy and his struggle between deciding between Shelia Mant, a girl he really likes, and the bass, one of his passions. In this journal, I will be questioning weather he will pick Shelia or the bass.
Ridel, B, 'The real losers in Egypt's uprising', The Daily Best Online, 13 February 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011< http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-13/al-qaeda-absent-in-hosni-mubaraks-fall-and-egyptian-revolution/>
I read the story and i debate whether he will pick the bass or sheilla. I think that he would pick the bass. I think the bass because it's the biggest one that he had seen. He has expensive equipment for fishing. He put more attention to the bass than he would to sheilla. He also chose the path for the bass rather than sheilla. The boy spends overall more time on his free time fishing rather than watching shiella. In some cases he could also pick sheilla. I think sheilla
Because the justice system isn’t always in favor of the innocent, people have started to stand up for their rights. Whether it is by protesting or even showing their support on social media, this nation’s youth is standing up to these injustices and demanding their rights back. They are a community standing together against injustice. Social media has paved a way that allows today’s youth to connect and collaborate in order to achieve this. They come together through art, music, literature, protests, etc. to illustrate their support. Social media allows the entire world to see what is really happening. Instead of being fed information by the media, they are able to hear and listen to the people who have been silenced. They are able to share experiences with one another, which results in the community available today
I am reading “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” by W.D. Wetherell. The story is about a fourteen year old boy who can’t decide between a bass or a 17 year old girl he has a crush on, Sheila Mant. In this journal, I will be questioning and Connecting.
While many people throughout the world see social media as a trendy new application in the service of personal amusement, the political upheavals in the Arab world have shown how it can change the dynamics of modern day activism. The Arab Spring Uprising interlaced social unrest with a technological revolution. Blogs, news websites, twitter feeds, and political list servers became avenues for communication, information flow and solidarity. Being capable of sharing an immense amount of uncensored information through social media sites has contributed to the success of many Arab Spring activists. Social media played a role in facilitating the events of the Arab Spring, but the main issues are rooted in a broader set of economic, political, and social factors. This paper will examine how social media impacted the Arab Spring Uprising. Specifically, I will look at how social media introduced a novel resource that helped to created internet activist communities, changed the dynamics of social mobilization and revolutionized interactions between protesters and the rest of the world.
I am reading “The Bass, the River, and Shelia Mant” by W.D. Wetherell, The story is about a young boy trying to choose between a beautiful girl and his passion of fishing. In this journal, I will be questioning and evaluating.
Malcolm Gladwell’s article "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will not be Tweeted" raises a significant question about the prospective contribution of web-based social networking to the advent of progressive social movement and change. Gladwell’s bold declaration that "the revolution will not be tweeted" is reflective of his view that social media has no useful application in serious activism. Contrasting various elements of the “high-stakes” lunch-counter protests in Greensboro, North Carolina in the 1960’s with the “low-stakes” activism achieved through social media, Gladwell concludes that effective social movements powerful enough to impose change on longstanding societal forces require both “strong ties” among participants and the presence of a hierarchical organizations. In contrast, Gladwell characterizes the social networks as an interwoven web of "weak ties" that is inherently devoid of a hierarchy. Gladwell’s prerequisites for social movement are firmly based in strong body of sociological evidence, but his views regarding the nature of online social networks are laughably lacking in foresight and obstructed by a misleadingly selective body of evidence.
Zayan, J. (2011, February 14). Egypt Activists and Army Discuss Reforms. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved December 7, 2013, from http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/egypt-activists-and-army-discuss-reforms-20110214-1as8u.html
Safranek, Rita. 2012. The Emerging Role of Social Media in Political and Regime Change. s.l. : Proquest, 2012.