Social Media and Social Activism

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Social Media and Social Activism

Journal Title: Journal of Advanced Research in Journalism & Mass Communication - Year 2017, Vol 4, Issue 3

Abstract

Nowadays, we are connected with our near and dear ones with the help of social media. With the advent and rapid boom of the Internet, social media has eliminated physical and geographical barriers and virtually and we come in contact with a person or a group of people as if two or more people are sitting and talking right next to each other. Imagine, if we can use social media to bring about a change in something, additional to keeping in touch with your family and friends. The answer would be a yes. It would be highly beneficial to use social media to spearhead a campaign or to disclose untold views and stories of anything related. Today, social media has become a primary tool for political and social movements globally. They serve to strengthen the already existing networks of political and social relationships among the masses. It is generally driven by excessive public participation, i.e, more the number of people participate for a cause via social media, the more impactful and successful will it be. There are many ways of social or media activism like publishing censored news on websites, creating effective video and audio presentations, spreading information to the people about the nature and reason for protesting for a cause, and organising campaigns and meetings related to media and communications policies. Often, the main aim of social activism is to change policies of the government that is mostly related to mass media and communication strategies. Social activism is now required by the population for expressing their own views and opinions, in order to bring about a necessary change. With almost half of the countries over the globe having less or no press freedom, according to the rankings made in the Press Freedom Index, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), it is always necessary to garner more public support internally from other areas of a country or externally from other countries, to make the citizens’ voices reachable to the concerned authority. The rise of digital media allows social activists to address this challenge, providing new mechanisms to influence public policy. It is also believed thatthe activists have shaken hands and are supporting with the corporate sectors, in order to influence them with their own decisions. Social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+, to name a few have been successful for activists and anarchists for spearheading their digital campaigns, most notable being the Arab Spring in 2011, that toppled the dictators of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. Many social activists consider the larger picture – how can they find ways to end injustice and hold the perpetrators responsible for such nefarious activities. Also, they tend to create strong communities which encourage economic, social and psychological health.

Authors and Affiliations

Ms. Yashasvika Yadav

Keywords

EP ID EP273310
DOI -
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