Marcus Gladwell in his article “Small change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” speaks about the role of social media in activism and how historically activism has been done since the Civil Right’s Movement.
In general Gladwell tends to disagree with the importance of social media in strong risk activism that in which you’ll see in Greensboro, Iran, Tehran, or Germany during the fall of the Berlin wall. Authority, social ties, hierarchy, participation and strategy are the topics in which Gladwell focuses in on and compares modern activism with its historical counterpart. As their tools rather than their cause are defining more and more activists, Gladwell notes that the “fever” caused by earlier activities can never truly be recreated. …show more content…
I wholeheartedly agree that each of these paves a way to huge change and without them makes it harder to progress. I would also say that it is possibly to create hierarchies, structure, and strategy with social media. There is a huge possibility for such in just Facebook alone where if centered correctly, many users would be able to look up to a central figure or group. I will not argue that it would not be difficult and time consuming, although any strong cause would require long hours to make happen on any given day and is not necessarily an issue. On Facebook it is possibly to create groups, events, and posts that are administered by one or a group of people. In theory it would be possible to create a main group and different sub-sections within the group dedicated to different parts of the cause. As more and more people join, it would be possible to express interest in each subsection or coincidentally stay in the main group. Information would be posted on each page, with past information archived for future users to look through. Instructional videos could be posted as well as event times in which people can come in person to learn more about each protest or demonstrations. The more difficult part would be making sure people would read and attend these events and obviously weeding out those who just want to show up. Creating in person booths on the day of the event, quickly signing people in and reiterating what needs to be done. When activists can fully use social media to create strong social ties from weak ties, more can be done for the
In general Gladwell tends to disagree with the importance of social media in strong risk activism that in which you’ll see in Greensboro, Iran, Tehran, or Germany during the fall of the Berlin wall. Authority, social ties, hierarchy, participation and strategy are the topics in which Gladwell focuses in on and compares modern activism with its historical counterpart. As their tools rather than their cause are defining more and more activists, Gladwell notes that the “fever” caused by earlier activities can never truly be recreated. …show more content…
I wholeheartedly agree that each of these paves a way to huge change and without them makes it harder to progress. I would also say that it is possibly to create hierarchies, structure, and strategy with social media. There is a huge possibility for such in just Facebook alone where if centered correctly, many users would be able to look up to a central figure or group. I will not argue that it would not be difficult and time consuming, although any strong cause would require long hours to make happen on any given day and is not necessarily an issue. On Facebook it is possibly to create groups, events, and posts that are administered by one or a group of people. In theory it would be possible to create a main group and different sub-sections within the group dedicated to different parts of the cause. As more and more people join, it would be possible to express interest in each subsection or coincidentally stay in the main group. Information would be posted on each page, with past information archived for future users to look through. Instructional videos could be posted as well as event times in which people can come in person to learn more about each protest or demonstrations. The more difficult part would be making sure people would read and attend these events and obviously weeding out those who just want to show up. Creating in person booths on the day of the event, quickly signing people in and reiterating what needs to be done. When activists can fully use social media to create strong social ties from weak ties, more can be done for the