What if computers and online networking were never invented? How would we share our thoughts with our two thousand friends, that follow our lives based on status’s and pictures? Do you think it would be easy to pass the word on by ear, from country to country? Malcolm Gladwell author of “Small Change” is a believer that traditional activism is better than social media activism.
However, Dan Savage and Urvashi Vaid, are activists that prefer social media activism. Savage is the creator of the “It Get’s Better” campaign, an online movement, targeting high school students that are either lesbian, biosexual, gay, or transgendered, from being bullied. “Actions Make it Better” written by Vaid, is all about standing up for yourself and making small goals to have your voice heard. Protesting and other movements have been taken to a whole new level with the advantage of social media. Bullying is an issue that may never be stopped but with social media a small change can be made. Each one of these activist has their own insight on why social activism is so effective in the twenty first generation. All three activists, come together to agree that social media activism has many pros, and has many strong points that social media can make a change in society for the better.
Gladwell takes a stance on both social media and traditional activism, he supports that traditional activism is more beneficial but agrees that social media activism also has points of success. “Social media has reinvented social activism” (Gladwell 232). Social media like Twitter and Facebook have changed everyones social media activism approach. Commenting on a post, through a social media site, on something they do or don’t agree with, is an example of social media activism. There have been many cases where fights and disagreements start between peers on these sites because of the ability to type and say personal ideas that aren’t filtered. Gladwell argues that there have been revolutions that have happened without Twitter, and yes thats true, but networking sites have a huge advantage of addressing in huge amounts of people from anywhere in the world. “Networks aren’t controlled by a single central authority. Decisions are made through consensus and the ties that bind people to the group are loose” (Gladwell 236) This states that even though no one is in charge of a social media site as a whole anyone from around the world can be a part of it. An example would be of the protests that Gladwell mentioned, “in Iran, Tunisia, and Egypt,” people in these countries had no way of communicating with the rest of the world other than Twitter. I disagree with Gladwell that these are loose ties, people may not be connecting on a personal level but they obviously have something worth communicating with the rest of us. In the twenty first century it just makes more sense that social media activism achieves the distribution of a message to a large quantity of people. Gladwell introduces the thought, “The platforms of social media are built around weak ties,” (Gladwell 234) Gladwell agrees that the bonds between people over networking have weak ties but it is debatable because the ties are flexible. What I mean by this is that people can easily be reached and a difference can be made. A recent petition was floating around Facebook, to get the state of California to stop hold Orca whales captive for
entertainment purposes. I quickly clicked on the link that was provided with it and all I had to do was type my name and email in. The next day I received an email saying over 650,000 people signed this online petition. Not everyone that signed it is connected but everyone that signed it wants to help.
Dan Savage creator of “It Gets Better” campaign informs young adults in high school that are being bullied because of their sexual orientation. Savage himself as been through the bullying and torment that many high-school students go through if they are LGBT, so he created a campaign, where anyone can put a video online and tell the younger generation that life gets better. Unfortunately not everyone is supportive of gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender. Savage himself had a tough time encouraging his own husband to be apart of the videos and letting cameras into their house. Dan and his husband had no choice but to spread their statement through social media activism because going into schools would have been impossible. Not everyone understands the lifestyle of being LBGT, some parents teach their kids, growing up that LBGT is wrong. “It will be years before we get anti-bullying programs [to start in schools]” (Savage 430), this quote is an example of how social activism can become a substitute for traditional activism. In this case social media is contributing to a meaningful change. Going back to Gladwell’s statement on having no one in charge of a social media site, is a strength for Savage. It’s not only his video, voice, and words being heard and spread, but it’s everyone coming together because there is no limit to sharing on social media. Having the campaigns website is a fast way to reach these kids, ”four years is a long time to wait so let’s all commit to making things better right now “(430 Savage). The video was up for only a day and they had already gotten over a million views. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcVyvg2Qlo
This just shows how easily people browsing the internet became interested. The audience that Savage is talking to is anyone that is willing to be educated on this movement. People like President Obama, Kesha, and Kloe Kardasian help inform their fans about the issue and in response makes the “It Gets Better” campaign a little bigger each day, this is the power of social media in use. of social media activism this campaign was a success.
Vaid, another social media activists, believes that social media should be your own personal touch on impacting the world. It’s not always about agreeing with someone but being able to start your own movement. She says “ You can join it; in fact you can lead it” (432 Vaid). This means be the change that you want to see. Social media is very flexible, you can conclude that all the activist, Gladwell, Savage, and Vaid, agree that it is not well organized and that is an advantage even impossible for the large amounts of people flowing in. Vaid believes people can be active on their own and not wait for a change. This is how social media activism is a high risk, if these people stand up for bullying because they can see that they deserve better it’s standing up for yourself, by yourself. Having the support of a large group in Savage’s case important but in Vaid’s opinion that is just being part of the group and blending in, everyone willing to make a change should take it personally.
In my opinion taking a situation personally, gets your own voice across to people that may be thinking the same thing. Making change with social media can be a challenge but Vaid suggests if you start small, like with yourself, it will make a change on your own life.
Todays generation is powerful because of social media. Gladwell fights against social media often such as “Fifty years after one of the most extraordinary episodes of social upheaval in American history we seem to have forgotten what activism is” (Gladwell 233) Social media has made activism even stronger because media in today’s society is a strong point, its what today’s generation has to offer the world, and is something that we have become to know, so why not embrace it? Social media could be used to hurt or it could be used for good. Gladwell takes the stand the social media has a good way of attracting great numbers, to put the idea in many minds. Savage believes that social networking is a tool that could be used to get around many obstacles, in this case preventing self harm from LGBT kids that cant hear the words “It Gets Better” in person but turning to a website that provides security and motivation for them. Vaid a more “start small” activist, explains it only takes putting yourself out there to make a change. Social media is power, appreciating the good that it can bring to society is something everyone can benefit from.
Work Cited
Gladwell, Malcolm. “Emerging: Small Change.” The New Yorker:
2010. Print.
