Social Media’s Effect on Political and Social Activism

The first article written by Gladwell discussed how activism through social media is based off of weak ties whereas changes that are brought about without social media are much more personal making them more powerful. The author admits that social media has its benefits when it comes to spreading awareness and increasing participation; however, he does go on to describe how change brought about with the help of social media is often messy and complicated, whereas activism used to be strong and powerful. Walton states how social media can be used in politics to reach mass amounts of people and help identify what the voter’s thoughts are on things so Politicians can help their campaign. The article also touches on people’s ability to participate from their home by voicing their opinion on social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook, which relates to Gladwell’s idea that social activism is much weaker since people try to make change by just voicing their opinion but don’t really do anything to change anything. Stephan’s view of social media’s effects were different than the previous two authors. He believes that change won’t occur unless people spread awareness of what’s wrong and how they can make solutions. He describes how back in the 60’s it was much harder to inform people about beatings or arrests, whereas today videos of police violence are easily spread all over the news. He believes that things like this will bring about change because social media gives people access to information so quickly.

My personal opinion is that social media can be a great way to spread awareness and allow people to share their thoughts on an issue when they might have not been able to originally, however I think people need to be careful. Things can be interpreted in the wrong way when they are written online and it’s very easy to say things you wouldn’t normally say in person, especially if one cares deeply about a topic. I also think there is a lot of talk about making change on social media, but actions need to follow through on those ideas if any real change is to be made.