In the “Power of Sharing”, Deanna Zandt used the analogy of bubbles to portray our social connection to others: “Picture billions of soap bubbles in a sink. Each bubble represents a different person, and the bubble size reflects that person’s sphere of influence. Where bubbles connect and intersect represents our relationships with people around us” (7). Keeping this analogy in mind, it’s easy to see how social media is such a successful way to mobilize people in seeking social change. It’s long been understood that the first step towards solving a societal conflict is raising awareness, which today is often done using such mediums such as Facebook and Twitter. When we post, “share” or “like” a video such as the Kony 2012 viral video Facebook allows all of our all of our virtual friends to see. Next, our friends can choose if they also want to share or like it, and if the post is interesting enough the outreach can be exponential as the awareness spread through the “bubbles” and “empathy” builds (1). Naturally when large groups of people become aware of a pressing issue, the normal course of action is to seek change. Social media often is a place where real life events and protests are organized, allowing users to set a date, provide a description and invite their friends to join. Prior to social media, events like these were took time and were difficult to set up as they relied on heavy word of mouth, print media, and if possible sometimes television. Social media has allowed for us to stay connected and unify quickly if necessary.
Zandt, Deanna. “Ch 1: The Power of Sharing, Ch 2: “Are We There Yet”, Ch 3: “We Are What You Share” Accessed March 22, 2019
Social media is definitely a platform that can keep people informed and gather for events. News stories can become viral, exponentially, and if enough people like and share it shows interest. Social media has a lot of power in making peoples' voices become heard and voice their opinions. It also makes it easier for people with the same interest/opinions to come together thus creating the example of the protests.
ReplyDeleteI agree that social media has become the new norm for creating and organizing many events, especially for those not necessarily as equipped or prepared to do so. I think the reading used phones as it's example of how movements can spread rapidly and I think that it has shifted steadily to social media (through the use of phones) in only the nine years since the article was written.
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