Summary Of Small Change: Why The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted

In Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, Gladwell starts the text with the story of the four African American college students from Greensboro, North Carolina who began a sit-in. The students endured so much racial discrimination for the simple pleasure of being served. The sit- in started with only four and soon grew to nearly hundreds of protestors within days and not with the help of social networks. During the civil war movement the internet was non- existent. People could not go online and share information with others as easily as we can today. Meetings were held and functions were facilitated to bring individuals together who shared the opinion. Now social networks such as Twitter and Facebook make it convenient to stay in
Gladwell believes that “social networks are effective at increasing participation- by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires” (Gladwell). In other words, it is a good way of informing a high volume of people about a certain issue, but they are not going to be as passionate and motivated to make a change, like high- risk activists use. In the article, Small Change: Why Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, Gladwell states the types of connections that social networks can created between people. A strong- tie connection means that two individuals are friends; and have a personal relationship with each other. Whereas a weak- tie connection is just an acquaintance or someone you may have not even met. Mark Granovetter has observed that, “our acquaintances- not our friends- are out greatest source of new ideas and information. The internet lets us exploit the power of these kinds of distant connections with marvelous efficiency… but weak ties seldom lead to high risk activism”