The Idea Of Online Activism

No matter what the issue has been, there have always been people who are there to stand up to problems that drown our society. It doesn’t necessarily mean that whoever tried, has succeeded in overcoming a problem however, there are countless stories of the average citizen fighting for what they believed is the greater good. “Activism has played a major role in ending slavery, challenging dictatorships, protecting workers from exploitation, protecting the environment, promoting equality for women, opposing racism, and many other important issues.” - (Brian Martin,Activism, social and political) . The interesting thing is, a lot of citizens can do the bare minimum of effort yet contribute a whole amount to a cause they believe in, even the smallest
First off what is an activist? ”An activist is a person who campaigns for some kind of social change” (Vocabulary.com). The change could be to the reasoning of seeking a political, economic, environmental, or social benefit. Sharing news and opinions through social media, posting on personal blogs, and making your own statement through the internet are all forms of Internet Activism methods. Unlike a regular activist who may protest in person, an Internet Activist may never set a foot out their house yet make a difference within society. It may or may not be hard to believe that protesting through the internet can make a substantial difference in today’s society but as you read this you will realize the definite contributions that internet activists make. That’s the big factor that diverses activism from online activism, the fact that your actions can reach at a global scale at such a fast pace of time. You could make a friend sign a petition on paper and it could be used to make a change in society but you could make the same petition and send the link to the petition to multiple friend you have in different parts of the world. This means that even though it seems strange, going through your facebook, twitter, or any other social media and sharing / publicizing events that are reaching towards making a difference, in a way you helped as an online activist. “ The immediacy of social media, many activists say, allows a rapid spread of
If you’ve ever been on twitter, instagram, tumblr, (not so much on facebook), it’s most likely that you’ve seen hashtags before. Hashtags are # signs that are involved in the social media post that you’re submitting which specifies the post to a certain subject (for example: writing #nba after a post would mean that your topic is based upon the nba). In the infographic above, made by Keren Alfred (BrownPoliticalReview.org), it gives an example of how hashtagging was used in online activism. The pros towards hashtag movements is that the subject can go viral and trend across the whole internet into a global notice for attention. The cons to this however is the fact that, just because a problem is noticed across the whole world doesn’t mean that something will actually happen. Hashtagging is an action that spreads awareness on the topic, in hopes that it motivates others to help out and do something. Just because a hashtag goes viral over a good cause doesn’t mean that things change. For example the hashtag #blacklivesmatter was made following the event of trayvon martin’s death, an unarmed teenage boy who was shot by a man named George Zimmerman, and even with this hashtag being one of the most