Official Post #3 (Social Media and the Information Age)

Information is:

·         Food

·         Input-Output

·         Data

·         Always biased

·         Power (remember the 6 companies mainly in charge)

·         Always mediated (affected by the media it comes through, there is no such thing as neutral info)

Social Media is:

·         an interactive web platform

·         connecting people

·         communal value

·         online mob mentality

·         the best way to reach most Americans these days (87% of U.S. adults have acess to the Internet)

·         SOCIAL NETWORK SITES

o   “as web-based services that allow individuals to (1)

construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate

a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse

their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and

nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site” (Boyd)

§  Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Facebook, etc.

 

Social Activism is:

·         intentionally identifying/fixing injustice

·         valuable online information circulation

o   ex: PETA actually wins over supporters against certain products that abuse animals, by using SM)

·         intentional social changes

·         participatory civic value

·         Gladwell believes it’s putting yourself in high-risk situations (his example: being chased with clubs all afternoon)

·          

Online Activism is:

·         activism reinvented to fit modern technology

o   activism has always used the available means for addressing social injustice; these days, the web can be such a tool (and a very successful one at that)

·         pursuing social justice via the Web/ digital campaigns for social causes

·         involvement in activism “at home” (made possible by the web)

Slactivism is:

·         what Andresen calls “taking easy  social actions in support of a cause.”

o   includes liking things on Facebook, sharing posts, signing petitions, etc.

o   NOT what Gladwell refers to as “real” activism

·         more effective than Gladwell lets on, according to Mirani

o   for example, see the Twitter coverage of the Sudan Revolts, otherwise hushed by other forms of the media

·         viewed both negatively and positively by different parties (see Gladwell and Mirani for example)

·         can actually “get things done”

o   ex: In Canada, PETA got locals to sign petitions online and shut down a local roadside menagerie sighted for neglect

What activism looks like in 2014:

·         connecting and collaborating through online platforms

·         larger activist events taking place thanks to organizing tool of the Web and social media

·         a new hybrid breed of activism (combining online activism with offline activism)