Briefly, summarize Gladwell's argument. Why is he skeptical about the use of social media?
In the article Small Change, Why Revolution will not be tweeted, Malcolm Gladwell expounds on the degree of effectiveness of social media in the fight for social injustices. The rights and freedom movements in the southern U.S. in the early 1960s did not require anything like Facebook, Twitter, or emails. The story of four Negro students who were denied service at the restaurant described how revolution and the desire for social justice could be achieved without social media. Gladwell discussed the strength of protests, sit-in, and boycotts because of the strong ties between the students. Revolution movement is always effective and successful when there …show more content…
The spread of information is a vital tool for fighting social injustice. The passion and motivation to advocate for civil liberties resonate from the flow of information. With the introduction of Facebook and Twitter, every sensitive matter pertinent to revolution can get wide coverage within a brief time. It improves participation. The influence of activism movement is stronger when the population of the participants rises daily. The Small Change started from four students and grew to thousands of participants. Social media was meant to spread the information, but the actual participants in the movement were real people united with a similar situation of oppression, segregation, and …show more content…
The social media are good engagement platform where the citizens can contribute on political affairs of the nation. However, the previous political contribution by the citizens has not yielded any significant changes in the society. This is attributed to the unstructured and informal nature of engagement on the social media. For meaningful discussion on the social media, there should be a structural organization of the discussion. The scrutiny of the online information and the security should also be guaranteed. The use of propaganda and unconfirmed allegation on the social media has prompt the electorates to make the worst decision (Abdulla, 2011). The politicians usually take advantage of the social media sites like Facebook for personal relation affairs.
The social media should be used to make the candidates for public office more accountable and accessible to voters. The information released by these politicians should be verified before publishing them to millions of people around the world. Meanwhile, the electorates should be given ample opportunity to respond and give feedback to the candidates based on their suitability to run for public office. In conclusion, social media can help the future electorates to elect the best candidates for public office with reputable integrity and accountability
In the article Small Change, Why Revolution will not be tweeted, Malcolm Gladwell expounds on the degree of effectiveness of social media in the fight for social injustices. The rights and freedom movements in the southern U.S. in the early 1960s did not require anything like Facebook, Twitter, or emails. The story of four Negro students who were denied service at the restaurant described how revolution and the desire for social justice could be achieved without social media. Gladwell discussed the strength of protests, sit-in, and boycotts because of the strong ties between the students. Revolution movement is always effective and successful when there …show more content…
The spread of information is a vital tool for fighting social injustice. The passion and motivation to advocate for civil liberties resonate from the flow of information. With the introduction of Facebook and Twitter, every sensitive matter pertinent to revolution can get wide coverage within a brief time. It improves participation. The influence of activism movement is stronger when the population of the participants rises daily. The Small Change started from four students and grew to thousands of participants. Social media was meant to spread the information, but the actual participants in the movement were real people united with a similar situation of oppression, segregation, and …show more content…
The social media are good engagement platform where the citizens can contribute on political affairs of the nation. However, the previous political contribution by the citizens has not yielded any significant changes in the society. This is attributed to the unstructured and informal nature of engagement on the social media. For meaningful discussion on the social media, there should be a structural organization of the discussion. The scrutiny of the online information and the security should also be guaranteed. The use of propaganda and unconfirmed allegation on the social media has prompt the electorates to make the worst decision (Abdulla, 2011). The politicians usually take advantage of the social media sites like Facebook for personal relation affairs.
The social media should be used to make the candidates for public office more accountable and accessible to voters. The information released by these politicians should be verified before publishing them to millions of people around the world. Meanwhile, the electorates should be given ample opportunity to respond and give feedback to the candidates based on their suitability to run for public office. In conclusion, social media can help the future electorates to elect the best candidates for public office with reputable integrity and accountability