My take on race in social media
Reading this week's material brought me back to the first week's module on identity in social media and how the arenas of race, gender, and politics plays a pivotal aspect on the identity. On social media, as in the offline world, people struggle and unify around these social categorizations. In reading the article Social Media Conversations About Race it discusses howe the hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter has been used approximately 12 million times from July 12, 2013, through March 31, 2016, and during this period, it was used more often in support of the movement than in opposition to it. This research shows that social media can be used to unify a group of people to raise awareness when mainstream media isn't doing enough to provide the platform to raise marginalized voices. While social media has its polarizing characteristics, I believe that influencers, talking heads and people of interest will continue to drive conversation and keep important social/cultural issues to the forefront of American media.