In recent years, technological advances have provided new ways to connect with communities and individuals worldwide. Reaching millions of many people has never been easier. Many people use the latest technologies for business and leisure, but there are countless ways to use them for social change. Today, anyone can use social media to keep people informed of developments and news related to their goals. Activism has changed due to the advent of the Internet because it has become much easier to share and spread information.
As an example of a significant social movement, the Black Lives Matter movement could be considered. Three black activists, Alicia Garza, Patrice Colors, and Opal Tometi, founded Black Lives Matter in 2013 as a black-centric political will and movement promotion (Mundt et l., 2018). Black Lives Matter has led protests worldwide against police atrocities and systematic racism that disproportionately affect the black population. According to the value-added theory, some variables are needed for the social movement to materialize (Saffer, 2018). The first condition is structural conduciveness, arguing that people need to gather in a particular place when faced with a problem or when forced to organize a social movement. This helps to understand people’s perspectives, whether they support or disagree with the topic. Many people have supported the Black Lives Matter movement, which demonstrates that they support protecting the rights of black people.
The second determinant is structural strain, which happens when people realize that the current social organization is not expected. The issue applied to the accident when the police killed a representative of the Afro-American race. Generalized beliefs are the third factor responsible for people’s belief in the causes of stress, and they feel that by forming a group together, they can build a social movement to meet their needs (Usman et al., 2017). For the public to believe the cause, it is necessary to express the problem properly. The fourth condition is related to the precipitating factors and triggers. A trigger is an event that helps spark a spark of protest. For example, the trigger for the Black Lives Matter movement was a murder of a black person. The fifth condition is mobilization, according to which, for a successful protest, movement activists must perform several important functions. People need to create and distribute leaflets, plan demonstrations, and raise public awareness. Social media and technology, in turn, make all the processes and functions easier and faster.
References
Mundt, M., Ross, K., & Burnett, C. M. (2018). Scaling social movements through social media: The case of Black Lives Matter. Social Media+ Society, 4(4), 2056305118807911. Web.
Saffer, A. J. (2018). Value‐added theory. The International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication, 1-10. Web.
Usman, A. H., Wazir, R., Mutalib, M. F. M. A., & Ibrahim, K. M. (2017). Prophetic based on education: A value added for social change. Advanced Science Letters, 23(11), 10855-10858. Web.