Dictionary.com defines society as “a highly structured system of human organization for large-scale community living that normally furnishes protection, continuity, security, and a national identity for its members” (Dictionary, n.d) I was born and raised in Nigeria which means Nigeria is part of my society. The Nigerian government is democratic in nature.
Social media has a lot of advantages. Social media goes beyond connecting people from different parts of the world. It helps disseminate information in a fast manner, it helps people find jobs, it gives businesses competitive advantages over its competitors, it influences political action. To name a few. The way Americans use social media is very similar with
Hashtag activism has become a phenomenon and it’s impacting the governments of various countries in a big way. In the past we 've see Popular hashtags on twitter like #OccupyWallstreet, #Kony2012 and a recent one #JusticeForTrayvon. The #Bringbackourgirls campaign is still being talked about on twitter at the moment. As simple as the hashtag might be, it has generated a lot of buzz. Young Nigerians are more active in using social media tools compared to older Nigerians. “Some of these activities are more likely to be pursued by younger social media users compared with the social media users who are ages 50 or older” (Pew Research, 2012). The older Nigerian users still tend to follow the traditional method of getting their opinions heard by the government. They use social media mainly to interact with family and friends. The younger users are more tech savvy than the older generation. Some Nigerians, mostly the older users of social media questioned the hashtag, saying that sitting at home behind laptops and mobile devices cannot institute any impact on the government or bring the girls back in any way. The older generation still believe in the traditional method of reaching the government by signing petitions and send postcards to the government. In my opinion, This method is old-fashioned. Combining these social media tools like twitter & Facebook with the traditional method is more efficient in
Where a software application like twitter will cause the government to take action. “A single image had flashed around the world and had left an indelible mark on human consciousness. One of the dynamics that led this single man to stand in front of the tanks was the impact of technology” (David Houle, 2009) Through twitter, images reading “BringBackOurGirls” spread around the world, People started organizing meeting points to start a protest, People that had the courage to protest took to the streets holding placards, wore t-shirts that read “BringBackOurGirls Now!!” “Tweeters communicated encouragement for continued protest, play-by-plays of the current security situation or messages they hoped would reach their friends and families” (Jennifer Pagliaro, n.d) The government tried stop the protests by sending police officers in every state to stop any protests on the streets of Nigeria. The police officers detained some protesters and threatened to continue doing so, till people stopped protesting. Leaders of some protests like Oby Ezekwesili (vice-President of the World Bank 's Africa division) took to twitter to encourage protesters to continue protesting. One thing the government forgot was this new social media technology called Twitter. The government were still stuck in the past, thinking they could easily sweep matters like this under the
In Stephens article, he tells how “Social media could serve as a source of live, raw information. It could summon people to the streets and coordinate their movements in real time. And it could swiftly push back against spurious media narratives with the force of a few thousand retweets”. He explains how technology can be used to push to change problems in our society and encourage us to get up and do something about it. Being able to use our capabilities if technology to fullest is “A huge reason for all this success is that, perhaps more than any other modern American protest movement, they’ve figured out how to marshal today’s tools”. In McKinnon’s explanation, she states how “To their credit, some companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Google and Facebook have joined forces with civil liberties groups in an attempt to persuade the Obama administration not to push anti-encryption measures that would enable government and law enforcement officials to access our secure communications”. This is goes with how technology can be used to make a difference just like what Stephen was saying in order to inform people on what’s going on. McKinnon explains how our social media servers have also taken a disagreement on invading our private lives. As it stands, any individual or
The article named “spring awakening” wrote by Jose Vargas describes the impact of social media in converting the mentality of young Egyptian generations into bold and defend their inalienable rights as a citizen. This article justifies how social media can mobilize a tremendous number of people to stand up for their rights. The reasons that inspire my emotion is emerging of “Wael Ghonim” as a legendary vocal figure of action for change, revelation of social media as earthquake for change, and fundamental soci-political change.
Twitter and tear gas central focus is on how the internet gas boosted the way protests movements are being
Social Movements develop through social media because they satisfy the need for connection, yet; social movements can help to connect people for the greater good. Being involved in a social movement though social media means more to people than gaining validation and attention, but standing up for something that they believe it. As a result of being involved, supporters feel better about their self and the environment they choose to live in. Social media makes it so social movements are more inclusive for everyone. Everyone can feel as if they are acknowledged and connected through being able to instantly share information and converse with each other on their beliefs.
Because the justice system isn’t always in favor of the innocent, people have started to stand up for their rights. Whether it is by protesting or even showing their support on social media, this nation’s youth is standing up to these injustices and demanding their rights back. They are a community standing together against injustice. Social media has paved a way that allows today’s youth to connect and collaborate in order to achieve this. They come together through art, music, literature, protests, etc. to illustrate their support. Social media allows the entire world to see what is really happening. Instead of being fed information by the media, they are able to hear and listen to the people who have been silenced. They are able to share experiences with one another, which results in the community available today
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, [society is a] community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests (Society def. 3). For one to feel supported and content, they must be admitted into a society. This is evident in All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. It is imperative for society to be the most highly valued as should one desire happiness, then the society must accept their actions, words, and identity though it may take time, and a society's consensus produces peace.
In order to use social media to promote your advocacy, online activist need to know the effects social media has on activism. The first effect of communication is audience engagement is needed. Many of the issues that went viral like the ALS ice bucket challenge had some sort of audience appeal. The supporters were doing an action and challenging their friends to do it also. By doing that, it was raising awareness and gaining donations. On the word of an article about the ice bucket challenge stated, its playing on what you know young people do, and you are using that to create this awareness and raise money (Madison). This generation is always trying to outdo themselves, who is going to be the next big youtube sensation. The winners of this knowledge monopoly is all the groups whose activism worked and got recognition. The losers are the advocates whose issues got "liked" by slacktivist, maybe someone shared a post but it did not go viral. Secondly, putting activism on social media is a given, it is a place where the supporters are already at. In an article in Psychology Today, Pamela Rutledge, PH.D. says social media is changing public awareness by the word of mouth persuasion (Rutledge). Social media users often connect to those who have their same views, finding supporters of an issue or cause on social media should amplify the advocacy. For example, according to the article in the Sentinel, since the ice bucket challenge went viral, the ALS Association has seen more than one million new donors and received more than 80 million dollars in donations as of August 2014 (Madison). Even though the ALS ice bucket challenge was a success and proves activism on social media can work it can set up some advocates for failure. The unexpected consequences of the effects on social media activism is that people are thinking that they can do the next ice
While this initial stance kept politicians on the defensive, enough time has passed that individual politicians and even entire governments are starting to use social media to connect with their communities in new, open ways (Sniderman, 2011). However, as these social platforms are becoming more pervasive in society, studies of their influence on our lives has grown but have not kept pace with the use in government. Because social media is a relatively recent phenomenon, research on social media use in government is limited. Literature on the effectiveness of social media and government has increased but only in some areas. The purpose of this review is to understand governance through citizen engagement and provide a working context of the term social media. The literature review will provide a basis for what is known about the use of social media by government, in particular at the local level.
Social media activism has no sense of organization or leadership. According to Gladwell, “Networks don’t have a centralized leadership structure and clear lines of authority, they have real difficulty reaching consensus and setting goals (Gladwell).” Organizations find agreeing and establishing goals problematic. Not having the ability to set specific goals and complete them effectively leaves networks vulnerable. Using social media lacks the organization required to properly execute an aim for a group. It is quite obvious that since anyone can take part in social media sites and simply the vast number of people online; it would complicate anything that they were trying to achieve. Working even in small groups of people can create difficulty. Social media increases the number of people. So using social media as a platform for activism can prevent change from
In mere minutes, any active user can access information and associations regarding various causes, such as the riots happening in Egypt and the Middle East. Teenagers, in the Middle East, used their Facebook accounts to campaign the “Day of Rage” in Saudi Arabia. Helping to set the Arab riots in motion, the event demanded elections, freedom for women, and the liberation of political prisoners. The activists’ goals to bring democracy to Egypt and removing Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s fourth president from 1981 to 2011, still continue and perhaps with the assistance of Facebook they will accomplish these ambitions. The causes campaigned through Facebook have served as a fundraise...
Social media is a difficult concept to comprehend because there are so many elements that are comprised within it. There are websites that can be used to communicate with people which has some pros and cons, while there is also text messaging
Social media makes it easy for people to communicate and interact with each other anytime anywhere in the world. People can stay connect to their families and loved ones no matter how far they are from each other. That ability to communicate with people all over the world has made people much more open to other societies and other cultures as well. When people learn about other cultures they become more open to new ideas, more open to change, and more accepting to other cultures.
Social media is used by many people, young and old around the world as a way to communicate. Our lives have become so busy that it is difficult to maintain family and social relationships. “They use social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. On these sites users create profiles, communicate with friends and strangers, do research and share thoughts, photos, music, links and more” (Social Networking). With the use of social media you can be friends with all sorts of people without actually seeing or knowing them. “In many ways, social communities are the virtual equivalent of meeting at the general store or at church socials to exchange news and get updated on friends and families” (Cosmato).
Social media has a positive impact on the world and is able to allow a better future. It is able to improve communication by making it easier to talk to people via Facebook chatting. Also augments education by making kids use websites that are similar to these social networking sites and giving them a feel of what is right and wrong. Finally it positively impacts the economy, and the fact that these sites are not used just for casual use anymore, but can create job opportunities. All of these reasons tie into the greater message that social media is positive for the world because it creates a better environment, a potential future in which we
In the Philippine history, Filipinos were colonized by many countries. Freedom that time was very limited especially to those who are not powerful and influential. Today after several decades, Philippines turned into a democratic country and freed in any kinds of colonization. In the fast world of technology and social media, Philippines has topped to have the highest average time in using social media sites with approximately 4 hours and 17 minutes according to Mark Camus of Inquirer.Net. This is not surprising since Filipinos was deprived of expressing themselves in the way they want.