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Impact of social media in our society
Impact of social media in our society
How has the internet changed the way we communicate
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The internet has become one of the most important factors in how we live in today’s society. Social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are attracting attention and popularity. Social media has create a place for us to connect and network from any place at any time. The growth and expansion of social media is having an impact on more than just the youth but the older generations as well. Older people are coming to learn how to use computer to keep in touch with family members far away and younger people are using it to express themselves. It has become so present in our daily routines to use social media for many purposes. The article “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, argues that there is a different in the way …show more content…
Though social media has many positives, it serves to be helpful for low risk activism but may be unfavorable for high risk activism. Social media has the power to make change from how we interact and meet people to how we maintain those relationships through distance or being next to someone. The strength social media has in our society is eye opening. In the article “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” written by Malcolm Gladwell, he believes social media is good for networking to large groups of people from all over but most relationships developed are not personal and can lack weakness. Therefore, Gladwell suggests that this is not the same as having a close friend or family member or half the …show more content…
As I see many things on Facebook and Twitter about protesting, it does open my eyes to what is happening but it does not make me have a true passion for the topic to join the protest offline. Compared to if I know the person or group that is activating. For high risk activism passion drives the protest without it, it will not have such impact or meaning. I think that Gladwell has many good points, although one of the ones that stands out most to me is “Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice” (TSIS,321). This is true to me because I see people making a difference for low risk activism. They are more likely to be involved in low risk because there is lack of requirements and it is minimal effort for them to feel like they did something good for others and themselves. Low risk activism is still important and social media plays a very powerful role in taking part in this to spread the word to large groups of
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
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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?.
The concept of somehow showing support for a worthy cause from behind a screen seems not only incomprehensible but also foolish in my opinion. Being an activist from your couch, on your phone and rating how important an issue is from the number of likes it gets is indisputably ineffective. The number of likes or retweets a post gets does not determine if any major initiatives will be taken to fix the problem, it simply makes people feel good because they believe they are becoming a part of some big change that will occur.
Social Media has been pivotal to the exchange of information especially within the past decade, and with this significance it has enabled much change in terms of corporate and personal reputation in addition to societal issues. Leslie Gaines-Ross and Malcolm Gladwell have examined the place that social media holds in our world today and offer two differing perspectives to social media's presence and importance.
In an article captioned “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” Malcolm Gladwell, a writer for the New Yorker, and crowned one of Time magazine’s top 100 greatest influential people in 2005, argues that, social media is effective in uniting a large group for a cause, but ineffective in promoting high-risk activism.
For centuries, individuals have come together from all aspects of life to fight for a common goal or belief. This unity took quite some time be organized due to the simplicity of media and the slowness of word of mouth. The growth and popularity of social media has not only revolutionized the world but, more specifically, has had a massive influence on the expression of ideas and beliefs on an international sector. Author Malcolm Gladwell has sparked controversy in regards to his argument in Small Change: Why the Revolution Won’t Be Tweeted. Gladwell claims social networks are effective at increasing participation—by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires. In other words, participation in popular issues has increased as a result of social media because this participation requires very little motivation or effort. Majority of the time, a few clicks on a mouse qualify as “participation”. I strongly defend Gladwell’s thesis because the world of social media has proved, in several instances, to be less effective at sparking change as opposed to
In order to use social media to promote your advocacy, online activist need to know the effects social media has on activism. The first effect of communication is audience engagement is needed. Many of the issues that went viral like the ALS ice bucket challenge had some sort of audience appeal. The supporters were doing an action and challenging their friends to do it also. By doing that, it was raising awareness and gaining donations. On the word of an article about the ice bucket challenge stated, its playing on what you know young people do, and you are using that to create this awareness and raise money (Madison). This generation is always trying to outdo themselves, who is going to be the next big youtube sensation. The winners of this knowledge monopoly is all the groups whose activism worked and got recognition. The losers are the advocates whose issues got "liked" by slacktivist, maybe someone shared a post but it did not go viral. Secondly, putting activism on social media is a given, it is a place where the supporters are already at. In an article in Psychology Today, Pamela Rutledge, PH.D. says social media is changing public awareness by the word of mouth persuasion (Rutledge). Social media users often connect to those who have their same views, finding supporters of an issue or cause on social media should amplify the advocacy. For example, according to the article in the Sentinel, since the ice bucket challenge went viral, the ALS Association has seen more than one million new donors and received more than 80 million dollars in donations as of August 2014 (Madison). Even though the ALS ice bucket challenge was a success and proves activism on social media can work it can set up some advocates for failure. The unexpected consequences of the effects on social media activism is that people are thinking that they can do the next ice
He argues that the civil rights movement in the 1960s was successful even though social media was not a factor during this time. A similar, present-day example of activism would be the LGBT movement that has gained recognition throughout the last few years. While the LGBT movement would still be possible without social media, it is clear that social media has helped organize and increase awareness for this movement. For example, the “It Gets Better Project” was a social media campaign that attempted (successfully) to increase LGBT support and decrease bullying. Within three years, over 50,000 people, including prominent figures, had created and uploaded videos to show their support for this movement (“Social Media and the LGBT Community”). Along with raising awareness, social media has also helped to schedule protests and demonstrations within this movement. While the achievements of the LGBT community would have eventually occurred without the use of social media tools, it certainly helped expedite the process of achieving their goals. A more convenient way to share ideas and organize demonstrations, which contributed to increased awareness, helped to bring this issue into the view of politicians and the government. As a result, they worked to create equal legislation that benefited the LGBT
Since social media is ubiquitous it provides users the capability of extending their social circle beyond their neighborhood. Evidence proves that, “60% of those who use an online neighborhood discussion forum know ‘all or most’ of their neighbors” ( Pewdie 10) which correlates to local engagement. This is positive as social networking substitutes for some neighborhood involvement and helps build a strong trusting neighborhood. There are 2.03 billion active social media users globally, which depicts not only the prominence of social media worldwide but also how accessible social media is as 25% of social media users are active (We Are Social). Lacking language and distance barriers, social media has helped bring social issues to light as court rulings and government actions are debated online and brought to the attention of government officials. For example, the death of Eric Gardner back in July as the video of a cop choking him to death went viral recently due to social media, which has caused riots and lack of faith in the justice system. With users all across the globe posting their opinions, planning protests and debating on social media, politicians have been forced to discuss the equality of the American justice system as the government’s people are distraught (Salon). Although social media is utilized to connect the world on the negative side of the spectrum, individuals suffer
For example, young protestors in Egypt successfully harnessed social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, to plan protests and gain supporters. This new realm of information allowed an estimated 20 million Egyptian internet users to distribute material and rally followers, thereby increasing probability that a movement would produce positive and permanent consequences. Moreover, YouTube was widely used to broadcast public demonstrations and shed light on the despicable militia violence. News networks brought massive attention to demonstrations of solida...
Social media activism has no sense of organization or leadership. According to Gladwell, “Networks don’t have a centralized leadership structure and clear lines of authority, they have real difficulty reaching consensus and setting goals (Gladwell).” Organizations find agreeing and establishing goals problematic. Not having the ability to set specific goals and complete them effectively leaves networks vulnerable. Using social media lacks the organization required to properly execute an aim for a group. It is quite obvious that since anyone can take part in social media sites and simply the vast number of people online; it would complicate anything that they were trying to achieve. Working even in small groups of people can create difficulty. Social media increases the number of people. So using social media as a platform for activism can prevent change from