How to Utilize Social Media to Facilitate Social Change Social media, like other forms of communication, has its limitations. It does however, have a place in our ever-evolving technologically savvy world to enhance social change. However, there are those who agree that social media has a place in society but doubt its substance in terms of influencing the real world. With today 's advances in communications through social media, online communities can facilitate increased collaboration among family and friends, create new friendships and interests, deliver useful information to mass numbers almost instantly, offer educators and students valuable access to educational support/materials and strengthen social and political change (Are Social
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He made many waves and enemies with this essay that doubts the power of social media in political organizing (Melber 1). In it he describes the forms of activism that took place in February of 1960 at a popular lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. A racial situation ensued whereby four young black men were refused a cup of coffee because the seats they occupied were for whites only. A protest began the next morning with among thirty-one people. By the end of the month, some seventy thousand students took part to stand up for these men and for equality. These events became a civil-rights war that consumed the South for the rest of that decade. Gladwell points out that: “… it happened without email, texting, Facebook or Twitter.” (Gladwell 2). Although this is in fact true, Gladwell ignores two things: social media had not been invented and if it had, it is very possible that due to the magnitude of this demonstration would have flooded the social media circuit, impacting the demonstration in a meaningful way. Davidson also writes that during the Civil Rights movement, every medium was used for the cause, …show more content…
2010 's summer protests achieved mass media coverage in India and internationally, too. Kashmir had had vast demonstrations in 2008 but had been protesting for over twenty years. What is different is that, the newspaper, The Guardian, reports that middle-class India previously not interested in news from Kashmir, except with being at war with Pakistan, was for the first time, able to hear the other side of the story. Facebook users in India rose drastically from 0.7 million in 2008, to 3 million in 2009 and to 13 million in 2010. On Twitter, people can follow journalists tweeting live from Kashmir 's capitol, Srinagar. On Facebook, it is challenging to elude references or links to Kashmir or links to articles you would have otherwise not have been aware of. YouTube is besieged with videos of demonstrations in Kashmir. When clips of human rights’ violations are taken down, you can look on Facebook to find new links (Mirani
He made many waves and enemies with this essay that doubts the power of social media in political organizing (Melber 1). In it he describes the forms of activism that took place in February of 1960 at a popular lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. A racial situation ensued whereby four young black men were refused a cup of coffee because the seats they occupied were for whites only. A protest began the next morning with among thirty-one people. By the end of the month, some seventy thousand students took part to stand up for these men and for equality. These events became a civil-rights war that consumed the South for the rest of that decade. Gladwell points out that: “… it happened without email, texting, Facebook or Twitter.” (Gladwell 2). Although this is in fact true, Gladwell ignores two things: social media had not been invented and if it had, it is very possible that due to the magnitude of this demonstration would have flooded the social media circuit, impacting the demonstration in a meaningful way. Davidson also writes that during the Civil Rights movement, every medium was used for the cause, …show more content…
2010 's summer protests achieved mass media coverage in India and internationally, too. Kashmir had had vast demonstrations in 2008 but had been protesting for over twenty years. What is different is that, the newspaper, The Guardian, reports that middle-class India previously not interested in news from Kashmir, except with being at war with Pakistan, was for the first time, able to hear the other side of the story. Facebook users in India rose drastically from 0.7 million in 2008, to 3 million in 2009 and to 13 million in 2010. On Twitter, people can follow journalists tweeting live from Kashmir 's capitol, Srinagar. On Facebook, it is challenging to elude references or links to Kashmir or links to articles you would have otherwise not have been aware of. YouTube is besieged with videos of demonstrations in Kashmir. When clips of human rights’ violations are taken down, you can look on Facebook to find new links (Mirani