The Battle For Public Opinion

 

• How has social media played a role in the 2020 civil rights movement and protests? 

    Social media is a huge part of everyone's life and information about certain topics gets to us no matter if we want to hear about them or not. I think that this has both positive and negative sides to it. When it comes to 2020 and everything that has happened throughout that year, there was a lot of detail that we needed to hear about but nobody would present it in the news or on the television. Social media played a huge role in this case because it presented what was actually going on without censorship. All of the coverage across social media platforms was eye opening for many people. Since information was shared really fast on social media, more and more people were aware which led to protests all around the world. These protests were with the goal of making a change that was and still is very much needed. 

    I thought it would be great to share with the whole class a quote I found on the internet. Princeton professor states that social media allows us “to see a reality that has been entirely visible to some people and invisible to others”. In my opinion, this statement explains everything and shows the importance of social media. 

• How is social media changing the way people document history?

    I personally think that social media allows all people to share their different perspectives and experiences with the world which is always a good thing for history. Hearing stories from people of different nationalities, races and religions is very impactful and way more objective and realistic. Many years ago, white males were the ones telling the history and they were in power of creating biased history which was very subjective since it was told just from their points of view. Besides this, with social media we're able to get information on important historical topics way sooner, in real time. 

    An example of this were terrible events that took place in Iran. All of the information I got about these events and protests were from the videos on social media that Iranian women shared. The picture they shared with the world was real since they were the one who suffered and were trying to get help from us. 

• How has social media become a powerful mobilization channel?

    Social media provides a quick and accessible way to connect people’s causes and interests around the world. The way social media works is that if I like something on Instagram then posts similar to that one will start popping up on my Instagram feed as suggestions. In this case I will be more likely to follow them and get informed without even planning about it. Social media is a great source for connecting with people who have same or similar interests as we do.