Social Media Activism
Social Media Activism is a subcategory of Media Activism (also known as Digital Activism, Online Activism, Internet Activism and Hashtag Activism) that uses online means of communication and social networking sites to promote political or social change. Activism through the Internet can help organize people, initiate and mobilize crowds, and provide the possibility of organizing events with high levels of engagement, focus and network strength.[1] Sites ranging from Facebook or Twitter to online petitions like Change.org or blogs are the common internet tools used by online activists.
Contents
History:
This timeline consists of major events that shaped online activism.
Early Social Media Activism 1990-2000
This timeline highlights major events that have paved the way for and influenced online activism:
Lotus Marketplace-1990 The first recognized online protest occurred in 1990, when raised concerns over consumer privacy led the public to take action against product called the the Lotus Marketplace [2] (developed by Developmental Corporation when consumers found out that the direct-mail marketing database contained the names, contact information, and purchasing behavior of millions of Americans in CD-Rom form. Consumers began organizing through email and message boards in order to contact the software company and be removed from the list. When around 30,000 people had attempted to contact Lotus, the company decided by 1991 not to release the database.[3] See more [here]
MoveOn.Org -1998 Joan Blades and Wes Boyd created an online petition about the Bill Clinton’s impeachment after the public found out about his affair with Monica Lewinsky in 1998. After feeling frustrated with the “ridiculous waste or our nation’s focus”[4] and the partisan warfare happening in Washington D.C. to decide on the impeachment, the petition “Censure President Clinton and Move On to Pressing Issues Facing the Nation”, had collected thousands of signatures within days, helping transform a national conversation. MoveOn.org is now a 5 million-member site that allows participants to propose ideas for political change.
World Trade Organization Protests in Seattle — 1999 In January 1999, the City of Seattle was selected to host the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in November-December 1999. Months before the conference, concerns about worker’s rights, sustainable economies, environmental and social issues led NGOs, interest groups and individuals to begin organizing through the internet in order to develop strategic routes that blocked streets and set up “dense and diversified communications network[s]” to protest the conference. The Independent Media Center was created by these organizers as a result, and is now a worldwide alternative news source.
Social Media Activism 2000- 2010
There are a number of other events in Social Media Activism worth noting. These include:
California Immigration Protests — 2006
Colombian Las Farc Protests — 2008
"Where is My Vote"- Iran Election Protests- 2009
Arab Spring 2009- Present
Rise of Hacktivism
Wikileaks-2005- Present
Anonymous-2004- Present
Trends
Social trends are any type of activity that is participated in by society as a whole. With sites like Facebook and Twitter, social trends are not necessarily restricted to one particular region. Through the use of words or phrases that are preceded by a pound sign #, social movements have the potential to reach millions. Trending topics that can be found on the right side of Twitter’s home page reflect the most controversial news, which can include political updates, social events, and entertainment news. It can also push for “Social Media Challenges”. Using the # these challenges are used to encourage people to engage in an activity, for example 2014’sALS Ice Bucket Challenge, where users nominated other users to throw a bucket of ice water on themselves as a way to spread awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as motor neurone disease and in the US as Lou Gehrig's Disease).
Ethics Behind Social Media Activism
Praises
Ability To Make Change With the ability to reach a wider audience, and with technological advancements like the camera application to record important events, awareness of social and political issues allows people to join in and be informed, join political conversations, assemble communities or campaigns to create change than conventional social movements. Political scientists and communication scholars urged politicians to tap the huge potential of engaging voters and campaigning via social media because those who use social media for political purposes are more likely to vote or to donate to a campaign. [5] Barack Obama’s campaign raised US$500 million dollars of contributions with the help of 35,000 groups organized by My Barack Obama website, the most popular Facebook page, and 1,800 YouTube videos [6] . Of US$1.1 billion raised by the Obama team in the 2012 presidential campaign, US$690 million came from online donations.[7]
Accessibility and Affordability
Internet based activism is more affordable and accessible than conventional activism in the analog world that runs into obstacles like potential danger, harassment, time constraints, location etc. The Resource Mobilization Theory emphasizes the importance of resources in social movement development and success.The theory argues that social movements develop when individuals with grievances are able to mobilize sufficient resources to take action.The emphasis on resources offers an explanation why some discontented/deprived individuals are able to organize while others are not.[8] Being online already gives users access to information, to influence and allows them to enter communities that share common goals. Smartphones have facilitated this participation with the inclusion of internet service on phones.
Critiques
"Slacktivism" Defined as “the act of showing support for a cause but only truly being beneficial to the egos of people in this so called activism” see more here. Those who criticize Social Media Activism are skeptical of the intentions behind their online activity and social and political movements. Many argue that simply clicking on a link or participating in the hashtag devalues the concern about political or social issues because “liking” “sharing” or “tweeting” a post is a low-cost effort that does not require more thought from the user, unlike the conventional modes of social activism like campaigning, marketing, raising money that required more action and initiative from the protestors. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS describes the term "slacktivist", saying it "posits that people who support a cause by performing simple measures are not truly engaged or devoted to making a change".[9]
Self Promotion and Self-Fulfilment
Online activism has been used as a tool to exercise free speech and inform others of social injustices occurring around the world. While many people have the desire to give back to the community, a factor that plays a role in their participation is the online presence of their friends or followers. Skeptics believe online activism is pushing people to jump “on the bandwagon of social issues to become prominent figures of a movement and it can give those same people a false sense of “being ethical” or “doing what is right” with a post once a week”. [10]
Personal Gains
Online activism is seen as unethical when online petitions that acquire emails sell those email addresses for a profit to other sectors online. [11] While asking for donations for a cause is not seen as unethical, it becomes a problem when only 1% of the donations are going towards the actual cause, while the rest is beign distributed within that organization, since that money is not being invested in social change and action. Political gains through the use of social media activism furthers the skepticism of these critics who believe online activism has been used as a tool to deceive votes, political figures on social media platforms speaking on social issues as a way to gain followers for their campaign concerns many as their is a lack of transparency in their motives.[12]
Fake News and Filter Bubbles The proliferation of fake news and filter bubbles on social media websites played a role in voters attitudes in the 2016 election cycle. Through the use of Filter Bubbles-the intellectual isolation that can occur when websites make use of algorithms to selectively assume the information a user would want to see, and then give information to the user according to this assumption, [13] "fake news stories" that were in favor or against a candidate to show up on the users social media page and create a false narrative of that candidate or their opponent. For more information see Filter Bubbles
Popular Movements
This is an incomplete list of popular hashtag movements categorized by year
| #BringBackOurGirls | 276 Chibok girls were abducted on 14 April 2014. 81 returned. 195 still missing. |
| #WhyIStayed | Beverley Gooden’s goal was to reverse victim-blaming inspired other women to come forward with traumatic stories, explaining why they stayed. |
- ↑ http://mashable.com/2011/08/15/online-activism/#d1YGR18U7gqk
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Marketplace
- ↑ https://vivalageeks.com/tag/lotus-marketplace/
- ↑ http://front.moveon.org/a-short-history/
- ↑ Learmonth M. (2009, March). Social media paves way to White House. Advertising Age, 80(11), 16. Google Scholar. Found within http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305115623802#_i24
- ↑ Green J. (2012). Bloomberg Businessweek, 4307, 31–32. Google Scholar
- ↑ http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305115623802#
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_movement See " Resource Mobilization Theory"
- ↑ UNAIDS, UNAIDS OUTLOOK REPORT, July 2010.
- ↑ /http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/articles_papers_reports/770
- ↑ http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/articles_papers_reports/770 See “Private Gains”
- ↑ http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/articles_papers_reports/770 See “Private Gains” para. 2
- ↑ https://www.techopedia.com/definition/28556/filter-bubble
