#digital activist

[higherentity]

It's black week!

[higherentity]

[all-things-digital-blog]

#3: Social Media + Activism = Power

When you mix social media and activism together what do you get? Power. I bet you thought the answer was digital activism; well that too.

I’m overreacting about the dictator part, but you get the point.

As digital technology continues to emerge and advance on social networking sites, so do the opportunities for digital activists. We can examine activism from both expert citizens as well as everyday makers in this sense, as social media has become a “public information infrastructure” for all online users (Lafi Youmans & York 2012, p. 317). All this essentially means is that as a digital platform, this has enabled activists to establish their discourse online for digital citizens to engage with in order to then build and expand to traditional practices.  

Gerbaudo (2012, p. 3) has explored the ways in which each social media platform has a differentiating role when it comes to activism. Facebook promotes the initial strong connections in order to form a group, while Twitter has been primarily used for real-time news dissemination. Then we have Youtube which provides instant evidence to support activist groups. What we can infer from all these platforms is that they each share a common characteristic; it allows for the sharing and reposting of content in order to reach a mass audience.

So how powerful can digital activism be?

Some digital activists utilise social media platforms so effortlessly that sometimes we are not even consciously aware that we are engaging in activism. There are many varying strategies that some activists implement. Culture jamming is considered a strategy where activists manipulate the mainstream mass media messages to disrupt that dominant culture (Robinson & Bell 2013, p. 353). Quite sneaky, but it works. How many times have we consumed media that was consciously brought to our attention? Clicktivism is also a form of activism to help facilitate social change, and by signing that random petition you saw on your newsfeed, or by clicking ‘like’ on a groups Facebook page that your friend shared, you are subconsciously participating in new modes of activism (Halupka 2014, p. 119). Have you ever intentionally shared a video of a trending social or political issue that you know needs to be dealt with, but took no further action? You are engaging in slacktivism (Glenn 2015, p. 82).

As you can see, digital activism surrounds us. We now see more and more digital citizens embrace the cause of social movements due to the openness of social media (Barassi 2016, 495). This is the power of social media and activism put together. New technology mobile applications have also helped to facilitate these changes, with many designed to “serve activist ends” (Sigal & Biddle 2015, p. 289). Put simply, new media has welcomed activists with open arms. And now, even you can make a change.

References

Barassi, V 2016, ‘Datafied Citizens? Social Media Activism, Digital Traces and the Question about Political Profiling’, Communication and the Public, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 494-499.

Gerbaudo, P 2012, ‘Introduction’, in P Gerbaudo, Tweets and the Streets: Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto Press, London, p. 1-17.

Glenn, C 2015, ‘Activism or “Slacktivism?”: Digital Media and Organizing for Social Change’, Communication Teacher, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 81-85.

Halupka, M 2014, ‘Clicktivism: A Systematic Heuristic’, Policy & Internet, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 115-132.

Lafi Youmans, W & York, J 2012, ‘Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements’, Journal of Communication, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 315-329.

Robinson, N & Bell, G 2013, ‘Effectiveness of Culture Jamming in Agenda Building: An Analysis of the Yes Men’s Bhopal Disaster Prank’, Southern Communication Journal, vol. 78, no. 4, pp. 352-368.

Sigal, I & Biddle, E 2015, ‘Our Enduring Confusion About the Power of Digital Tools in Protest’, Fibreculture Journal, no. 26, pp. 287-293.