In recent years social media has played an extremely vital role in spreading information globally. Presently, almost every major news channel in developed countries has their own Twitter page. In many cases the use of social media has played a part in drawing public awareness to countries that are plagued with terror organizations that kidnap, murder, or oppress civilians. The use of social media in these countries has helped reduce the level of violence, instead giving people the opportunity to spread their opinion without using harsh methods such as riots or aggressive protests. Therefore, in countries where terror organizations carry out brutal attacks and kidnappings, the UN Council of Technology can patrol posts for key words to prevent …show more content…
Boko Haram militants kidnapped a large group of girls from a school using armored vehicles and explosives. The girls were initially confirmed safe by the Nigerian army, but the report was false. BH leaders confirmed that the girls had been married off or sold as slaves to supporters of the militant group. Megan Gibson’s “Can A Social Media Campaign Really #BringBackOurGirls?” says that oon after the kidnappings, the vice president of the World Bank for Africa spoke out, claiming the government must “bring back our girls.” Thus, a worldwide hash-tag was created and tweeted more than four million times (n. pag.). The tag has reached famous people all over the world, prompting action. In Felicity Morse’s “The Bring Back Our Girls Campaign Is Working: Boko Haram Should Be Scared of A Hashtag,” Morse writes that social media campaigns are successful because they grab the attention of office holders who are more likely to do something to support the campaign to draw in votes …show more content…
In countries around the globe, terror organizations carry out acts of violence against innocent civilians. While violence has been raging in these countries for many years, social media is stepping up as a way to find peace. In the last few years social media has been used not only to spread information but also to hold the suspects accountable. The rise in concern on social media has increased the demand for peaceful resolutions in terror-ridden countries. Social hotspots such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook have been used to spread public awareness and support in situations concerning terror groups. Social media can be used to prevent loss of life and work towards peace in battling countries instead of sparking aggression and hate.
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Works Cited
Brown, Gordon. “Nigeria’s Kidnapped Girls Not Forgotten.” CNN. 2015 Cable News Network,
30 July 2014. Web. 14 Jan. 2015.
Council on Foreign Relations. “Background Briefing: What Is Boko Haram?” PBS NewsHour. NewsHour Productions LLC, 25 Feb. 2014. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.
Gibson, Megan. “Can A Social Media Campaign Really #BringBackOurGirls?” Time. n.p., 7 May 2014. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.
McCoy, Terrence. “Boko Haram may have just killed 2,000 people: ‘Killing went on and on and on’.” The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 9
Twitter is an online social networking service that has grown to a global scale. In 2006, it was created for people to be able to share short blurbs of information with each other, and it has done its job quite well. However, like most technologies, there comes consequences, good and bad, that many didn’t intend, or expect, to happen. Twitter has greatly affected the world, and society as a whole, as it affects everything from the news to even how we think.
While many people throughout the world see social media as a trendy new application in the service of personal amusement, the political upheavals in the Arab world have shown how it can change the dynamics of modern day activism. The Arab Spring Uprising interlaced social unrest with a technological revolution. Blogs, news websites, twitter feeds, and political list servers became avenues for communication, information flow and solidarity. Being capable of sharing an immense amount of uncensored information through social media sites has contributed to the success of many Arab Spring activists. Social media played a role in facilitating the events of the Arab Spring, but the main issues are rooted in a broader set of economic, political, and social factors. This paper will examine how social media impacted the Arab Spring Uprising. Specifically, I will look at how social media introduced a novel resource that helped to created internet activist communities, changed the dynamics of social mobilization and revolutionized interactions between protesters and the rest of the world.
As our world evolves, more and more people every day jump onto the social media train. Many people are advocates of social media because it helps them communicate. However, other people oppose the use of social media because they question its credibility. Social media’s credibility played a big role in the Boston bombing events that took place on April 15th, 2013. Two bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring over 200 others (Ziv). Thus, as herds of people were rushed to the hospital or evacuated, the manhunt for the criminal responsible went on for the rest of the week. As time went on, law enforcement identified the suspects as brothers—Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. As the search narrowed
Throughout history, the press has long been known for its didactic approach to educating and gaining supporters of a cause. Written by a select few, newspapers and news broadcasts have been inadvertently biased in their deliverance of current events. However, with this increasing rich pool of information coming from a network of authors, the internet has become the new portal to current events – throughout the world. Particularly, new media, such as blogging or “tweeting”, has had a shockingly profound and lasting effect on non-democratic countries around the world, setting a firm foundation for revolutions. It has introduced a world far more informational and accommodating, setting up a fundamental basis to spark revolutions around the world. New media allows a brief glimpse into democratic societies and cultures formerly unbeknownst to a people, triggering curiosity and anger strong enough to overcome even the most oppressive despot. Specifically, social networking is a powerful tool prevalently influencing peace building and influencing individuals to leverage resources such as Facebook, Tumblr, or Youtube to further prevent violence and promote peace among a nation.
Social Media is very important in raising awareness to end and eliminate human and organ trafficking in Saudi Arabia through different organizations that are advocating to stop this kind of inhumanity. United Nations, Government of Saudi Arabia, International Non-government Organizations and Civil Society Organizations are fighting towards change.
In our world, social media is one of the most important forms of media within our society. People use it to keep in contact with old friends and family, and see the latest news and events. In a conflict perspective’s point of view, social media has enforced and has increased inequality between all people on social feeds, and a somewhat of a power struggle between all people.
Social media has a variety of platforms, allowing individuals to freely articulate their opinions to a large audience. This tool has it’s benefits as people can join together to raise awareness to certain matters but there is also a cruel downside to the public use of social media. In Jon Ronson’s article, “How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life”, he distinctly reveals that the use of social media for debate/dissent/social and political change brings together a large audience to improve our society in difference to trolling, bullying and public shaming where there is an outstanding victim looked down upon through a widespread of individuals. These two differences stem from the belief of one that they are informing an individual of their wrong doing they are in fact leading on a greater attack than intended. The concept behind“social media is so perfectly designed to manipulate
Social media plays a big role in today’s society. It connects many people to the world and what is going on around them. In addition, it is a great tool that can be used to access information without having to watch the news. Although it is a useful contraption, it can influence and damage the way people comprehend certain issues. Recently, everything that is associated with law enforcement is antagonized everywhere, from the news to social media.
Are all these uses of social media effective? Do terrorist organizations have more success at scaring the public through social media? Do terrorist organizations have more success encouraging other to join them through social media? Do terrorist organizations have more success communicate world wide through social media? There have been studies that examine if terrorist organizations use social media for these aspects but none have put them together or examined these advantages to social media and how effective they are.
The Arab Spring has impacted multiple countries in northern Africa and the Arab world so far since the end of December 2010, leading to the fall of the government in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Among the unarmed insurrections, social media and social networking technology functioned as a new strategy that empowered the protesters to gain successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt and inspired grassroots movements in other Arab countries. The new media, namely Twitter, Facebook and Youtube, with online blogs and mobile telecommunications, played a significant role in the politics of connectivity, which connect, coordinate and communicate the protestors. Labeled as “Twitter Revolution” or “Facebook Revolution”, the new media to some extent engaged in the Arab Spring uprisings. By analyzing more than three million tweets on Twitter, content on YouTube and thousands of blog posts, a study led by analysts from the University of Washington finds that social media played a critical role in shaping political debates in the movements during the Arab Spring.
Safranek, Rita. 2012. The Emerging Role of Social Media in Political and Regime Change. s.l. : Proquest, 2012.
Bok Haram was founded in 2001, with the purpose of establishing a pure Islamic state, ruled by Sharia Law. Its goal is to put a stop to Western Culture in Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon. Boko Haram is known for attacking Christians and bombing churches, violent riots, attacking schools and police stations, kidnapping western tourists. The current known leaders are: Abubakar Shekau, Dan Hajia, Abba, Abatcha Flatari, Momodu Bama and Mohammed Yusuf. They have also been linked with Al Qaeda and Ansaru. Boko Haram uses child soldiers some as young as twelve years old, which is a crime against humanity. On November 13 2013, United States of America declared Boko Haram a terrorist organisation. The terrorist group mainly attacks schools teaching English and Western education, they burn the school with the students inside or only kill the teacher
There are about one and a half billion users of social media worldwide. It can be used to meet new people, find old friends, chat the day away, join interest groups, or even to share pictures. Social networks were mostly created so people could meet and find new friends. What most users of social media don't know, are the dangers of using social media. One example is when you meet a person online, because they are not always who they say they are. If someone is not who you may think they are, who could they be? They can be a stalker or a person that wants to steal your identity; which could be done easily thanks to new developments of new technology. Also thanks to new technology it is now easier for people using your information to track you. Posting personal information can risk your family and friends lives. Social media can be used as a weapon against you. It can even lead to a kidnapping, or even someone's death. Many people use social media to help to waste time, but could also become an unhealthy addiction. Also social media can damage your future. When you are a teen you tend to post pretty much anything you want. This is dangerous because you can post too much personal information. What most teens don't realize is that what they do on social media now can affect them for the rest of their life. It can even come back to haunt you in the future. Social media is dangerous because it makes it easier to be stalked, identity theft to happen, kidnappings and murders, and also can ruin your future.
Social media is a controversy topic in today’s society. Some people think that social media destroys human interaction and real life human relationships. While others think that social media is a bless to humanity. Social media makes human interaction much more convenient and much faster than real life human interaction, it makes globalization a reality, it gives a chance for introverted people to express themselves, and it also benefit develop international relationships whether its business or social.
Social media, a quickly growing and popular knowledge outlet, can become dangerously addictive if the user lacks self-control. There are so many wonderful outcomes from the invention of social media. The biggest being how quickly news can spread. Anyone can share the news that they desire with a few taps on a screen. The fault in this action though, is that false testimonies can be spread just as quickly as true ones. The question is, does the positive outweigh the negative enough for a person to proceed with using social media? Without this innovative creation, though, communication would be dull and boring, so by all means, social media should be used.