Social media is far from perfect, but without it where would we be on our mission to preserve the planet for future generations? These global “voice your opinion” platforms have forced the culture to welcome climate change with open arms and work together to make the world a better place. Beautiful right? Well, there are still many issues to iron out but for the better part, it has played its role positively.
Throughout history, human development has often fallen down to the sometimes difficult job of coordinating a large group of people to contribute to a larger purpose. Vehicles such a religion, community and area’s of living have steered humanity to what was a bright and prosperous future before we fucked it up with greed. Now the greatest invented vehicle of mass mobilization has us gripped day in day out. Social media.
The Catholic Church boasts 1.2 billion devoted Christians. For the best part, in recent times they live in harmony. Facebook, on the other hand, boasts 2.38 billion often unhappy members, 3.38 billion if you include Instagram. Praying to a very much real man in an air-conditioned office in silicon valley. Mark Zuckerburg has the “whole wide world in his hands” and he is manipulating it in every which direction necessary.
Social media has become the biggest vehicle of change that we currently have. Along with this commitment, we have a moral obligation to use it for good. For better or worse, it connects, mobilizes and enables large groups of people to coordinate in the biggest way possible. Without it, the health of our planet would be in greater turmoil than it already is. It holds a wealth of information, education, inspiration, and motivation. Social media has enabled a select few people and companies to acquire such unimaginable influence that we must enforce responsibility upon those that hold it to commit to the wellbeing of our planet and its people. But that is often not the case. After all, the united nations cant fund an influencer campaign the same way a corporation like Apple could.
But what if we could change that?
Over the past few months, I have often found myself wondering. Can marketing save the world? It influences every decision we make consciously and sub-consciously. Why can’t we use it as a tool, hand in hand with social media, to drive rapid overnight change. The problem in the equation, of course, is money. And even as our home planet hangs in the grips of doom, money will always remains at the top of the list of problems.
Imagine for a moment that Mark Zuckerburgs office is the oval in the white house. Instead of a democratic government, it is a profit-driven corporation. Our data is sold for money, our privacy violated without our consent and used as fuel to drive the marketing powerhouses of the world. On his desk is a big red button, so powerful yet so easy to push. One push will deliver any message, image or marketing material to every single Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp member in the world. Think of the impact good, or bad that could be made with a single push of a button.
A scenario like this sounds exaggerated, right? but this very similar set of circumstances is often happening behind closed doors. In smaller, controlled less obvious ways. Data has been used to divide nations, swing elections, marginalize communities, promote slander and propaganda and even in a short period of time mobilize a huge amount of people to develop a distaste for another huge group of people.
So why, with all this power, influence and infrastructure has is not been forced to do better?
From the accounts, we follow as social consumers to the posts we like. Every share, like, follow and comment contributes to the fabric of the modern internet age we are living in. The harmless sharing of a fake news article has such ongoing impact that we each have an obligation to enforce demands on those who control media to do better, be better and set a better example for the future tech giants to come.
Social media will remain a springboard for good, I have no doubt about that. Its journey to totally honest transparency will be bumpy and until a centralized power regulates its reach and influence, we will remain in the grips of a uneven path through black mirror democracy.
