Social media has become a hub for all types of people to share themselves and speak about topics that may be too vulgar or actually be overlooked in person. Because of the rise of the internet and more users, social media is beginning to become a serious platform for activists to get their point across. It’s beginning to become more relevant to speak about politics and movements on social media because it will create a platform for potential users. It would serve to create a different argument about topics that are difficult to talk about. The articles that I will discuss in this research paper speak about the various movements that take place on social media and the effect that they have made. My paper will go into depth and speak about the injustices and realities of the society in which we live. The articles will elaborate on my subject, which will basically discuss how social media accounts created by activists have allowed people to have a voice. It will discuss how and why they have impacted thousands of people around the world to speak up about their problems. Furthermore I will talk about how movements work and why they have become more captivating on social media. The paper will reflect on why everyday people join movements and what influences others to be attracted to them. The question I have for this research topic is How can movements and activism be shown on social media and how it will affect the upcoming future user?

The injustices, inhumane and destructive global actions that are taking place all over the world are being connected to social media. The younger generation has built a climate change movement to promote the negative side effects of wastefulness. The research has shown that young SNS users “promote ingenious practices” that created the initial foundation for the youth environmental movement (Bandura & Cherry, 2019). Users chose to create a platform to have more coverage on global warming and to provide a wide variety of information about the practices that can be done. Climate change advocates used social media because they knew that it would encourage changes in people’s lives by improving their lifestyle. Social media influencers actually linked people to customized support groups in their communities. They built a place for people to connect with other users to illustrate the importance of preserving some worldly traits to make a sustainable future. This topic will heavily affect the upcoming future users because the contents of the information shown on social media will be something people will need to follow to create a healthier and positive planet going forward.

Creating the social media platforms in the first place had to be done very carefully. Their original reason was to show viewers a better picture of their subject matter. But why do everyday people decide to follow a movement, and what influences everyone to be drawn to them. It has been shown that, when initially creating movements on social media, it’s important to create a personal connection with potential followers/listeners. Jacquelien van Stekelenburg undertook a survey to examine the “disparate role of informal embeddedness in participation in protest with participants and nonparticipants of high school walkouts” (Stekelenburg, 2013). It has been confirmed that people were more likely to contribute if they are connected to those who are also sympathetic and supportive to the cause. It was also concluded that it depended on a person’s social environment of whether they would participate in social media movements.

Social networking users have started to speak about the problems that most people would stay away from. The I, Too, Am Movement was a campaign where students on campus tried to shed light on the racism that colored people experienced in Harvard University. Much of the research was around the main experiment that the social media activists conducted. Black students created this idea in their university by writing down the racial microaggression they encountered when attending college (Mwangi et al., 2018). They took pictures of them and posted it on Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter to promote this play. They used social media as a platform to get their message out. Instead of walking around their campus gathering petition signatures, or out on the streets and demonstrating, they made social media outlets for awareness-raising.“It was shown that 19% of Internet users engage in activism by posting material about political or social issues or pursuing civic or political engagement” (Mwangi et al., 2018). The social networking sites were created as a direct reaction to the derogatory treatment that students faced on their campuses and the lack of a safe place to participate in discussion and action on the racial microaggressions they encountered. The social networking sites have been provided to be a place of healing and away from hostile racial climate. Since it was on social media, this campaign became really successful. It allowed activism that operated beyond individuals and institutions to impact national and foreign landscapes. This illustrated the pervasiveness of student racial marginalization around the world. Essentially social media became a platform for students of color to encounter positive results, including stronger sense of belonging, meaningful relationships and support systems, and ways for responding to racism.

Similarly, the #MeToo and #HowIWillChange campaigns have had an influence on social networking users. Social media users have built platforms for open debate about “rape culture” and sexual violence. Having the movement online, created a greater diversity of voices. In the study, they gathered 18,000 available tweets from Twitter’s application programming that featured the trendy hashtag #HowIWillChange. It was found that the people who tweeted #HowIWillChange were focused on the idea of how strongly they are interested in or opposed to social change. The hashtag used was a way for oppressed groups to connect and share their messages and stories through a common word on social networking sites. The #MeToo movement was publicly brought up thorough high profile actresses, politicians and other higher up man for sexual harassment and violence, starting with Harvey Weinstein (PettyJohn et al., 2019). Thousands of Twitter users replied by using the #HowIWillChange. The hashtag was a way of condemning rape culture and ultimately creating a dialogue and educating men and boys about sexual harassment (PettyJohn et al., 2019).The original concept was that creating a movement online will build a community using social networking sites as a positive medium to express their stories and perspectives and encourage others that might need advice.

The Gezi Park protest was a hybrid protest that involved marches and social media campaigns. Some claimed that social media is a way to speak about your views effortlessly rather than go in public and protest. The research reveals that both offline and online collaborative efforts and team effort kept the endurance of the campaign together. Initially, the protests were about the abusive manner in which the police dealt with unarmed demonstrators. There were around 3.5 million people in Turkey who went out to rally against their government. Yet social media was at the forefront of the movement. Users organized and helped spread the word with the protestors on the ground. The researchers tried to investigate why the protesters felt that protesting in the traditional form and forming social revolutions online on social media was somewhat different. Yet again, it has been seen that social media is made to be a personalized and connected form of action. Protestors believed that “online activities require little time and effort and pose minimal risk compared with traditional civic action such as demonstrations and sit-ins on the street” (Ozen et al., 2016). But there did come positives with social media movements regarding the protests in Turkey. Videos and pictures posted on Youtube and other social networking sites, have been made available to thousands of people who spread the message (Ozen et al., 2016). In addition, the ease with which videos of protests could be posted on social media encouraged protestors to engage in the recordings and networking of the protests, thereby increasing their commitment. SNS have been shown to improve both bridging and bonding social capital. They connect previously unconnected groups and increase links in existing communities such as families and friends (Ozen et al., 2016).

As with everything else, social media has its downfall. (Luchak, 2013) talks about the research that examines how people use social media to reflect and view raw videos and photos to explore the disturbing truth of our culture. It shows different sides of social media (one side of human rights and having this kind of footage to be broadcasted) (the other, showing the reality of the situation with police). Robert Dziekanski was tased to death by the hands of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Luchak, 2013). The incident has contributed to this disbelief over the human rights in the world. This social media movement had two groups of hostile parties. The video was a demonstration of pain and surrender. Since the video captured the abuse of force that Dziekanski faced, it also features degrading images. “The social and political aftermath of Robert Dziekanski’s death reveals a fundamental shift in the public’s capacity to (a) monitor human-rights-related practices, and (b) to mobilize politically to hold law enforcement and government agencies accountable”(Luchak, 2013).

To continue, what are the benefits of using SNS and does it have harmful effects on a person’s mental health. This is in a way related to my focus question about movements and activism because it goes beyond the negative side effects of using social media in general. Data suggest that people have had concerns about the widespread usage of social networking sites by young adults and teens, and the effects this use may have on their mental health and overall functioning. There is this fear of missing out (FOMO) (Baker et al., 2016). Young adolescents have used social media as a means of voice and speech to speak about the injustices and wrongs in the world. Some are scared, in a way, of missing out on critical issues, because they might get criticized for ignoring them. This idea of cancel culture also goes into this because, while people do not involve themselves into certain activities or topics, social media users prefer to judge and even unfairly criticize people because of their acts. “An online study was conducted with 386 undergraduates from a large, ethnically diverse university” (Baker et al., 2016). The research found that FoMO was correlated with the amount of time spent on social media. And so higher levels of FoMO are experienced like depressive symptoms, physical symptoms and reduced exposure to what’s around you. It could also trigger moderate depression or dysphoria. (Baker et al., 2016). In some cases, this is true but we need to take a broader view of life.

Some questions that remain unanswered after my study on activism and movements on social networking protests, How will social media advocates prevent the spread of misinformation? And do you believe the negative perceptions of online activism have something to do with adults associating it with youth?

How will movements and activism be shown on social media and how it will affect the upcoming future user? These movements and activists have taken place on a number of different social media platforms and have impacted thousands of people around the world to speak up about their problems. Future research needs to be directed towards the idea of cancel culture and whether we as a society have made that more important than the pressing issues that lead to movements and protests.

References
Baker, Z. G., Krieger, H., & LeRoy, A. S. (2016). Fear of missing out: Relationships with depression, mindfulness, and physical symptoms. ​Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2(​ 3), 275–282.

Bandura, A., Cherry, L. (2019). Enlisting the power of youth for climate change. ​American Psychologist, ​10.1037/amp0000512.

Luchak, V. (2013). Exploring injustice through narratives of activism. ​Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 19,​ 367–372.

Mwangi, G. C. A., Bettencourt, G. M., Malaney, V. K. (2018).​ ​Collegians creating (counter)space online: A critical discourse analysis of the I, Too, Am social media movement. ​Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 11, ​146–163.

Ozen, O., Ulug, M. O., Solak, N. (2016). ‘Everyday I’m çapuling’: Identity and collective action through social network sites in the Gezi Park protests in Turkey.​ Journal of Media Psychology, 28,​ 148-159.

PettyJohn, M. E., Muzzey, F. K., Maas, M. K., McCauley, H. L. (2019). #HowIWillChange: Engaging men and boys in the #MeToo movement. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 20, 612–622.

Stekelenburg, V. S. (2013). The Political Psychology of Protest : Sacrificing for a Cause / Special Section: Political Conflict and Social Change / Original Articles and Reviews. ​European Psychologist, 18,​ 224-234.