Social networks have an essential role for every person who uses them to keep in touch with friends and find new information for themselves, to learn about all the news from around the world. A few years ago, social networks were not that big yet, but today people can use them for almost anything in their daily lives. Do people not need to buy a CD when they have YouTube and Netflix? Humans no longer need to purchase paper newspapers because everything is on Twitter and Telegram. People do not have to get out of bed to see what is out there; they pick up their smartphones or tablet. The nation’s opinion is influenced by modern technologies and opinion leaders who will not necessarily be politicians but will significantly influence your consciousness. Various public organizations are actively adopting social media to their goals and tactics.
Previously, people learned all news and events from newspapers; they were both public and private, through which it was elementary to convey the necessary information and propaganda. Over time, radio and telephones replenish the newspaper market, and they help transmit data much faster than newspapers do. In the 1960s, if people were civil rights activists and needed to break the news to the rest of the world-news of a beating, the arrest of an activist would have gone straight to the phone. Smartphones are already at the peak of their popularity and versatility these days, which help spread information in seconds using social media networks.
It is not enough to have a means of transmission, and it is necessary to be an opinion leader whom information consumers will trust. One of the first influencers was the famous American photojournalist Weegee, who became famous for his street photography of New York City neighborhoods. He usually arrived at the scene before anyone else, and his material immediately fell into the category of sensations. Another example is Martin Luther King and his famous letter from Birmingham prison. Thanks to printed publications, this letter was distributed around the world and became an essential text of the American Civil Rights movement.
If people had to fight for civil rights somewhere in 2015 or 2016, they would first have to choose an information platform on which to deploy actions. Instagram or Periscope would be suitable for them to publish a video to avoid surveillance by the authorities and somehow coordinate efforts among themselves; then, the choice would fall on GroupMe. When people need to mobilize a group of humans so that no one sees it, then SMS or WhatsApp will be enough for theirs.
Nowadays, media space is becoming a lever of influence for bloggers, activists, and various political forces. Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, one of the first to bring politics to social networks, and former US President Donald Trump can be striking examples (Lalancette and Vincent 894). The American president was very popular due to his activity on Twitter, where, with one tweet, he could cause a public outcry and bring people to the streets. It is now elementary for a politician to gain popularity thanks to social media, especially when people broadcast what the voters expect. Viral are stories about the family, civic activism, and criticism of the current government.
Social media is not only about politics but also about a lot of valuable things. Many bloggers worldwide are ready to share with us every day the rules of a healthy lifestyle, news from any sphere of public life, and just their wisdom (Masek-Kelly). Here people have the right to choose who to watch, listen to, and read. This circumstance leads to a pluralism of opinions, which positively affects the dynamics of the development of society. It is only necessary to learn how to distinguish applicable content from fakes.
Another main advantage of social media is delivering information about any incidents from anywhere in the world. For example, people quickly get information about military conflicts in Syria or Iran, not only from official sources but also from residents who can send a video or a message about what is happening in a few clicks (Walton). This is very convenient because we get the complete information at the expense of additional data. Not always what you can see on TV or read in the newspaper can be considered valid. Every person feels like a photojournalist when covering an event that is happening around him right now.
Black Lives Matter became known back in 2013 when one of the residents of Oakland, California, reacted sharply on her Facebook profile to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot a minor, Trayvon Martin, in 2012. It caused mass protests in the United States, with the case itself attracting more attention than the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in Egypt. The movement, directed against racial discrimination, has become fundamental for hundreds of disparate organizations and a million people who set out to achieve justice and a fair trial. Such a phenomenon, which arouses strong sympathy, needs a loud name; the authors must be entirely sure that their idea will work and penetrate all parts of the world. It is usually very controversial to say that the lives of black people are significant for the movement itself; sometimes, protests happen for the sake of the demonstration itself.
Any media environment has significant drawbacks, to which social activists have to adapt over and over again. Many videos distributed around the world about severe violence by government officials were successful, of course, but revealed another negative conclusion. The negative side of this success is based on the fact that the problem of discrimination against black citizens only intensified when videos about violence began to appear not only on social networks but also on television, which increased the audience several times more.
Exposing hate in all information spaces has become a signature tactic of the civil rights movement. Television footage of well-dressed white people bullying blacks when they go to school became resonant because they were so public. Social media is also subject to surveillance, and they know that many Black Lives Matter leaders have been under leadership by federal law enforcement agencies (Stephen). Many activists have started looking for safer channels, and now they prefer to say nothing for security reasons. The movement had another necessary consequence, which made changes in the lives of black people. They have developed a reflex to record any interaction with the police.
There is also the problem of terrorism in social networks and social media. Since 2015, when Twitter announced that it would not censor terrorism, social networks have become an important ally and helpers for terrorist organizations worldwide in recruiting, communicating, and promoting. Mainstream social media has rapidly evolved from defending the freedom of speech at all costs to acknowledging that the public disapproves of using their systems to encourage terrorism. Most social platforms have begun to adopt a two-pronged approach to countering the use of their tools by terrorists: this is blocking harmful content after careful verification.
Blocking by human feedback or complaint has several drawbacks, the main of which is the minimal use of tens of thousands of people to moderate millions of daily messages. The complexity of hiring and training large teams of moderators representing all languages and cultures using social platforms makes comprehensive control of people almost impossible (Leetaru). Moderators do not solve the problem of determining what a terrorist message is and what is not. Although most countries recognize such organizations as a terrorist, they continue to allow them to communicate openly on social platforms. It helps countries get as much information as possible about the activities of terrorist organizations and their leaders. If their communication channels are constantly blocked, it will have much more dangerous consequences.
Social media has changed dramatically and is stuck in our minds in the 21st century. This information space has become a surrogate for live communication between people, but it allows people to contact a person from anywhere in the world. People receive information and process it to correctly interpret what they see, hear and read. There are also significant problems associated with censorship; not all states are ready to be open in the information space for the whole world. Scenes of arbitrariness, violence, discrimination, and wars, in many cases, will remain behind the scenes; this is something that will need to be solved in the future.
Works Cited
Lalancette, Mireille, and Vincent, Raynauld. “The Power of Political Image: Justin Trudeau, Instagram, and Celebrity Politics.” American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 63 no. 7, 2019, pp. 888-924.
Leetaru, Kalev. Can We Finally Stop Terrorists from Exploiting Social Media? Forbes, 2018, Web.
Masek-Kelly, Elijah. How to Use Social Media to Build Thought Leadership. SocialMediaToday, 2018, Web.
Stephen, Bijan. How Black Lives Matter Uses Social Media to Fight the Power. WIRED, 2016, Web.
Walton, Alice G. 6 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Health. Forbes, 2017, Web.