Side A believes that social media has really helped people to become involved in political and social activism. Malcolm Gladwell states in his article:
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. When ten thousand protesters took to the streets in Moldova in the spring of 2009 to protest against their country’s Communist government, the action was dubbed the Twitter Revolution, because of the means by which the demonstrators had been brought together (Gladwell).
In 2008 political activists in Kenya used social media to bring awareness to a contested political election (Carr et al. 190). In 2009 the State Department asked Twitter to hold off on doing the websites scheduled maintenance because political protesters in Iran were using the site to send pictures and demonstrate during a disputed election (Kates and Nocera). Social media is also helping activists raise awareness and money in other areas. Stephanie Condon