Persuasive Essay On Social Media

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When I was in high school a student by the name of Ife went into a coma after a heat stroke and died from a brain aneurism all within 24 hours. His parents were in Africa at the time. The next day I showed up to school wearing all blue alongside 800 other students to show respect towards Ife and his family. Many students and faculty even donated money to help. Together we cried, celebrated a life taken too soon, and supported one another through a hardship. How did everyone find out about this tragedy though? How did everyone know to wear blue? Why did a whole community of people who didn’t really know each other come together as one? The answer is social media. One text was spread across Instagram with hashtags such as #ripIfe or #blue4Ife …show more content…

It is apparent that not one post or click on the internet can make a huge difference, but when hundreds and thousands of clicks are made it can make a pretty large impact. News can spread within a matter of seconds to thousands of individuals. Take for instance the controversy of #WhatColorIsTheDress? It took less than 24 hours for this dress to go viral. Seeing numerous hashtags and posts on social media about different causes raises awareness and most people’s curiosity and independent mindset will lead them to research more and form their own opinion on a subject. Cancer awareness is probably the largest awareness campaign and it has definitely made a tremendous change with organized walks/runs and increased donations towards research. The more aware people are, the more change that can take place and social media is extremely effective in spreading news vastly and …show more content…

Movements and organized protest arise from constant social media awareness that promote, guide, and expedite changes in business and government policies. After long debate and protest of gay marriage the #lovewins movement finally got what they have been wanting when the United States ruled in favor of gay marriage and made the ban on marriage rights for same sex couples unconstitutional in all 50 states. Also, in 2014 alone, more than 1.2 million videos were shared of the ALS Ice bucket challenge on Facebook. That, along with more than 2.2 million mentions on Twitter caused a spike in donations to the ALS Association. The association gained 260,000 new donors and $13.3 million in donations that year compared to the $1.7 million during the same period last year. The number is expected to rise with a spate of celebrities and business executives taking the challenge as well as donating (Steel). Social media activism can stimulate strong emotions that will eventually cause people to rise up and spark a

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