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What is role of social media for social movement
Malcolm gladwell's article, small change meaning
Importance of social media activism
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Gil Scott-Heron’s song “The Revolution Will Not be Televised” has been praised as a slogan for activists after its release in 1971. Scott-Heron sings about people “not [being] able to plug in, turn on and cop out” in defense of the activists who are actually working towards change (Scott-Heron). Malcolm Gladwell, a Canadian journalist, tackles the same subject in his essay, similarly titled “Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted”. Gladwell recounts historical events of activism that were not perpetrated by social media, and goes on to explain that regardless of what the media says, social media has not in fact “reinvented social activism”. Despite Gladwell’s examples, however, it is clear through events such as the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, that social media can have a crucial part in social activism. Gladwell uses two key social conflicts to iterate his point throughout the essay: the civil rights movement and the Moldova civil unrest. He …show more content…
He goes on to reiterate, “the platforms of social media are built around weak ties. Twitter is a way of following (or being followed by) people you may never have met” which makes it a much more feeble and fragile way of promoting change. Because social media is built on weak ties, people don’t have much to gain or lose by claiming to be a part of the so-called activism. Overall, Gladwell finalizes that social media “is simply a form of organizing which favors the weak-tie connections that give us access to information over the strong-tie connections that help us persevere in the face of danger…It makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact”
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.
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
Gladwell uses a wide variety of different examples that range from marriages to Law enforcement and everywhere in between. He seeks to revolutionize the way we attack problems
Throughout his book, Dobson mentions several examples of the effect of social media and mass media on dictatorship. For example, Dobson thoroughly talks about how a large group of people around the world quickly came together to protest against the dictatorship. This incident arose from “an anonymous call for a Chinese Jasmine Revolution…over social media and the Chinese equivalent of Twitter” (Dobson 50). Dobson later mentions that China’s senior leaders had a meeting on how they should control China’s mass and social media on the events happened in the Middle East, so that such incident would not occur in the future (50). This effect of social media and the ...
Malcolm Gladwell in his article “Small Change”, published in The New Yorker in 2010, identifies our present time as a long sequence of revolutions, in which the new instruments of mass media have changed the nature of social activism. I think it is possible to agree and disagree with his position at the same time. Obviously, Facebook and Twitter and the like have modulated the existing links between the authorities and the public. They have altered kinds of activism, and the organizations with so-called “strong-ties” gave way to a weak-tie gatherings somewhere on-line. I support Gladwell's claim that “friends” on Facebook, in spite of their assistance in providing their interlocutors with new ideas and news, can't be regarded true friends, ready to back you up in a dangerous, politically unstable situation.
Gladwell writes that “Activism that challenges the status quo - that attacks deeply rooted problems- is not for the faint of heart”. According to Gladwell, Social Media is ineffective because the physical and emotional elements that bring people together in social conflicts are not present in various think pieces on Social Media sites. People are less likely to care about an issue they are not connected with, and are more likely to forget about it later on. Social Media is built around mostly weak ties with distant friends, and its strength lies in being able to disseminate a multitude of information that could not be received with a tight-knit friend group. This problem helps to learn about an issue, but doesn’t help unite people around it. One of the biggest examples of social media only informing about an issue was Kony 2012 where the video received millions of views, but had no real influence of stopping the heinous deeds of Joseph
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are essential parts of every individual in todays day and age. The article Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted declares that people do not need social media to unfurl peoples quarrels around a large group. for example when the students ordered sit ins during the war against segregation. The world now is not how it used to be in the past, were individuals did not have TV or computers to rely on for news. Malcolm Gladwell asserts that all of the new technology is unnecessary to keep people informed of a certain subjects. For example when Hitler was killing the jewish religion in Germany. Not only was that something of extreme importance, but if we did not have technology or social media could one have ever known about it. Malcolm makes comments about Facebook, MTV, and Google assuming that people could write whatever they want and consider it as news. Nevertheless if one ignores things that individuals alleges on the web and you think it’s a rip-off, could we be able to help anyone?.
Gladwell’s essay discusses the developments of the social media and how it has changed social activism.”The platform of social media is based on weak ties”(Gladwell, page 174). He discusses how the Civil Rights Movement was based on strong ties among people who knew each other.People would rise up and join the revolution if they saw their friends, peers or neighbors in the news or newspapers. There is not much of a risk
Gladwell strongly believes that activism was viewed in a much different way before technology took over the world. In the 1960’s protests, and boycotts spread rapidly but usually only among friends. Today, information spreads to thousands of people in seconds due to social media. Gladwell believes traditional activism formed strong-ties whereas today 's movements and protests form weak-ties because of social media. People are motivated when they have close friends with them in a movement, not just through a text message. As Gladwell states, “where activists were once defined by their causes, they are now defined by their tools.” (Gladwell 408) Gladwell believes these tools can’t really help a social activism movement, but he does acknowledge the speed of social media networks. But, without news and social media how will the information spread? Anything placed on the internet can be broadcasted to a large audience within seconds. Gladwell writes: “Social networks are effective at increasing participation—by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires.” (Gladwell 408) Gladwell makes a good point but how will the motivation ever be there without people receiving information? Nevertheless social media has many flaws, but with other tools
“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
Since the advent of the printing press, human communication has grown exponentially. The 20th century is certainly no exception to this trend as we have seen in the advent of radio, television, and the internet. The ease of communication allowed the voice of the masses to be readily heard, and has proved advantageous for social activists and the causes they championed. Such advantages did not go to waste as we have witnessed in movements like the civil rights movement or Fair Trade. Even today, we hear the cries of the “Occupy Wall Street” protestors. The truth is, progressive movements and their political pull are here to stay and contrary to Berry’s (2000) belief, those that grow around a “single issue” are just as successful as their multi-faceted counterparts.
[18] Websites and applications dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking, social bookmarking, social curation and wikis are among the different types of social media. Social media is interactive in nature. In last ten to fifteen years, the growing number of social media has made its impact felt to all over the world. Issues of corruption, social injustice, human rights, political dissatisfaction, economic issues, inequality, partiality, biases etc. are global issues being raised and discussed on social media. Arab revolution is latest and big win of social media impact. Protests in Iraq, Syria, Asia, America, China, Romania and so on are examples of online activism on social media. The Arab Spring demonstrates the use of social media to effectively inform the public in the country or outside the country and to organize in times when most of the media are under control or censorship (Allagui & Kuebler,2011). [19] Research on the use of ICT for activism and protests online on social media situates itself at the intersection between social context, political purpose and technological possibility (Gillian et al., 2008). [20] Social movement and activism is a social process in which mass or masses display their interests, say loudly their grievances and criticism and ask for solution or suggest. Then
Social networks and the rise of social media campaigns continue to dominate mainstream media. Their aim to primarily network has evolved into a medium to protest political or social agendas, and amplify minority voices (Kim, 2014). The driving force behind a social media campaign now resonates in the power and participation of digital activism (Hill, 2013). This new wave of activism encourages people from global channels to be advocates of change within society, by triggering awareness, accountability and open democracy (Ramon Gil-Garcia & Sandoval-Almazan, 2014). With this idea in mind, the question proposed is: In what ways did the hash tag #BringBackOurGirls promote online activism and help push the story into mainstream New Zealand media? This literature review analyses specific keywords such as digital activism, slacktivism and identifies the role of media ownership between New Zealand and its
In the article, he takes time to appreciate the importance of old school methods for bringing change and cultivating human relationships. The most significant aspect of his argument is the impact of sit-ins in the civil rights movement. A physical mode of interaction that brings people with the same interest and from different realms together, then gives them the motivation and incentive to keep their relationship going. In his essay, Gladwell points out his opinion about the use of virtual networks in building relationships. This is a view that he shares with Sherry Turkle in her essay “Alone Together.” While Turkle does not take time to expound on the methods that lead to success in the civil rights movement, she challenges the use of technology and social media in building connections. She emphasizes on the significance of families and natural connections in the modern society because of their role in making sure that people stay together. Suffice to say that, technology and social media does not help people cultivate strong and sustainable relationships with each other because they do not offer incentive or motivation, which is evident in families and actual people relationships cultivated outside virtual
The article discusses issues of social media equating to lazy activists called slacktivists. The main point focuses on the little difference that slacktivism accomplishes. Gilmore defines slacktivism as “someone who believes that it is more important to be seen to help than to actually help.” By using social media, they have eliminated the labor involved in activism with just the press of a thumb.