Abstract
Social networking sites (SNS) within the past decade has revolutionised the world we live in. This conference paper highlights the most recent findings on the positive aspects of Social Networking Sites and how social networking has generated a positive impact on equal opportunities and social justice within Western culture. Online movements have encouraged users to raise their voice regarding various forms of injustice and inequality by using SNS as a tool to project and discuss issues, debates and current affairs. Online communities have rallied on social networking sites, often influenced by the interests of those in their online social media networks. SNS have played a large role in the promotion, acknowledgement and awareness on serious global issues in our society such as #MeToo (sexual harassment awareness), #DoItForDolly (bullying and youth suicide awareness), #HeForShe (gender equality) and #BlackLivesMatter (racial inequality).
KEYWORDS: Social networks, social networking sites, SNS, Web 2.0, social media, political participation, activism, social movements, participatory culture, engagement.
Introduction
Old media is considered a one-way stream. A message is announced to the public with very minimal participation and feedback, meaning that having a conversation or debate on social, environmental or political issues is near impossible. New media, Web 2.0 and social networking allow two-way communication through the facilitation of comments, likes, shares and replies with the overall aim to engage an audience on a personal level. This results in giving users a voice and provides a sense of agency, or to simplify, a sense of control (Haggard, 2012, p.3). Social networking sites break down cultural, social and hierarchical boundaries by offering a platform to communicate to other users in real time, spanning across the globe (Kuiper, 2017). As a result, online social networks have sparked debate, not only from within the media and technology industry, but also in academia (Ngai, Tao, & Moon, 2015, p. 33). There appears to be a substantial split when approaching the pros and cons of social networking sites. Half the studies argue the negative consequences and effects of SNS, whist the other half emphasize the positive impact that SNS has on users. Skeptics argue that social networking is the predominant reason why users become alienated from society. However, in this paper, I will argue that by correctly utilising social networks sites, users have to opportunity to communicate their personal perceptions, opinions and ideas in a variety of subject areas to a number of people, resulting in the ability and opportunity to raise their own voice and opinions to a wider audience. Firstly, I will discuss how social networking has encouraged users to speak up on social injustice and voice their opinions on issues of their concern. Secondly, I will provide examples of successful online movements that support my argument of reducing social injustice. Thirdly, I will be exploring how social networking sites have been used as a tool to promote racial and gender equality, with examples that support my argument such as the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the #HeForShe movement.
The rise of social networks within the last decade has made a significant impact on social relations. According to Gerbaudo (2012) “Facebook is used to form groups, covert and overt—in order to establish those strong but flexible connections”. To further simplify, the common goal of social network sites is to let users to find, meet, and contact each other more easily. Over the years it has become much more then this and the way in which users are organized into social networks differs. LinkedIn and Facebook utilise existing communities for example business connections, students and alumni in order to create a foundation surrounding their site. Nevertheless, there are other sites that are directly associated around activism. Examples include Change.org and Net Neutrality, which empower users to generate communities around concerns such as global warming, water pollution and starvation in third world countries, just to name a few examples. The overall aim of these networks is to connect users to organisations, making overall social networks more useful (Aguayo, 2011). Facebook is considered the most popular social networking site, with 15,000,000 active members in Australia, per month (Cowling, 2018). However, it is important to understand that there is nothing exceptionally activist about popular SNS’s, but more how they are utilised as a tool to promote and spread awareness on issues and topics of concern. Activists have been passionate about adopting social networking sites as a tool in order to discuss and share global activism.
Social Networking has created a whole new way for users to communicate. SNS’s such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have served the generation of the Millennials well. These social networking platforms have allowed users to voice their opinions on any issue, big or small. Following on from this comes shares, comments and likes, creating an online platform for community, participation and engagement. Due to Twitter having the ‘retweet’ button and Facebook having the ‘share’ button, users posts can easily reach other users globally within a matter of seconds. Having social networking platforms to share your knowledge and viewpoints with others around you is so valuable. In today’s society, there is a growing number of users discussing political and social issues, which allows them to critically analyse the world around them, ask questions, share ideas and learn more about the world in which they live.
Movement Campaigns – Fighting against Injustice through SNS
Dr. Vaast is a professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Management (Information Systems) and has extensive experience social media. Dr. Vaast has previously worked along side a research team to further understand social media use on the Twitter platform following BP’s oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of the research was to develop a well-defined understanding of, firstly who was discussing the oil spill and secondly how those online users caused a stir up, resulting in a larger social movement. Dr. Vaast (2018) acknowledged that “This was intriguing to [her] because, at the time, Twitter seemed mostly used as a way to react to more mundane, sports or celebrity-related matters”. By conducting this study, researchers established that SNS’s have the ability to create an emotional response that inspires users to work together toward tackling global issues (Hansen, 2018). Nearly 8 years on from the oil spill, SNS’s have revolutionised social change — from bringing awareness, thoughts and prayers to terrorism, the instant rise of the #MeToo movement and, more recently, the #DoItForDolly anti bullying awareness movement. Below are online movements that have provided users with an opportunity to raise their voice regarding various forms of injustice by using SNS’s as a platform to project issues, debates and current affairs.
- Anti terrorism movements: #PrayForParis / #JeSuisCharlie and #WeAreNotAfraid
Almost 3 years ago in 2015, Paris was involved in two major terrorist attacks. The first hashtag #JeSuisCharlie was spread across SNS of Twitter and was named one of the most popular hashtags in Twitter history with over 5 million uses referencing the hashtag (Goldman, 2015). The second incident was a coordinated attack by suicide bombers and gunmen in November 2015. Again, social networking users showed their support, with the hashtag #PrayForParis. The hashtag was used over 7 million times and on Facebook, profile pictures featured the French flag and Eiffel Tower peace symbol (Top 5 social activism campaigns, 2015). These online movements regarding terrorism also work as a deterrent for future attacks. The most recent global movement hashtag was #WeAreNotAfraid which followed after online users expressed defiance after the terrorist attack in Westminster killing 5 people inclusive of the attacker, sharing messages of solidarity on social media (Hunt, 2017). This demonstrate the influence and power of Twitter in particular, showing that with the tool of SNS’s, communities and users across the world can come together in order to drive awareness and promote the devastation of terrorism and crisis.
2: Sexual Assault and Harassment #MeToo
This recent movement began on social media after one of Harvey Weinstein’s most vocal critics wrote, “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem” (Sayej, 2017). This movement began because of the exposure of countless allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood producer for sexual assault. Not long after, millions of women (and some men) from different industries (not just the film industry) began to share their personal stories all over the world via social media with the hashtag #MeToo. This included public figures and celebrities such as Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney and musician Bjork, empowering women to speak out against sexual harassment (Khomarni, 2017). Bollywood’s leading actor, Deepika Padukone says that it is important for celebrities and public figures to use their reach, power and influence to encourage change within a society. “I think it is extremely important for those who are in positions of influence or power to bring about social change. It is extremely important for them to speak up about whatever issue it might be” (Padukone, 2018). Sexual harassment has always been a blatant and disturbing reality however, this movement had such a dramatic impact that it was transferable globally. France used #balancetonporc and “rat on your dirty old man” which was used over 500,000 in this same period, whilst India used #abusefreeindia discuss and bring awareness to sexual abuse. This online movement has provided victims with an opportunity to raise their voice regarding sexual assault and the hashtag #metoo has established a convincing message: to stop sexual assault, spread awareness and empower women. The entire point of the #MeToo movement was firstly to acknowledge the scale of sexual assault and harassment – which it did, and in ways that possibly no one expected. Secondly, the encourage victims to speak up about their allegations against abusers. Thirdly, to break the stigma of sexual assault – now discussions are more open than ever before, which can teach people about the problem in unprecedented ways.
3: Anti Bullying and Youth Suicide Movement #DoItForDolly #StopBullyingNow
This anti-bullying and awareness movement was presented by The Project TV and aired on the 15th of March 2018, the day before the National day against Bullying and Violence. The segment is available to view on Ten Play: https://tenplay.com.au/channel-ten/the-project/top-stories-march-2018/speak-even-if-your-voice-shakes.
Convergence is understood as the “flow of media across multiple platforms” (Jenkins, 2009). Through convergence technology, SNS’s such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram shared this movement. In January of this year, Northern Territory 14-year-old girl, Amy ‘Dolly’ Everett ended her own life due to relentless online bullying. This movement aims to raise awareness through an online movement incorporating the hash tags #StopBullyingNow and #DoItForDolly. The movement included some of the most well known social media influences, musicians and actors. Wally Aleed states in the video “I am not the right person to talk to young Australian’s, they do not want another out of touch guy on the TV telling them what’s up, it is for that reason that I have decided to give up my chair to the people that should be in it, the most influential people in the world” (The Project, 2018). The days leading up to Dolly’s death, she left a breathtakingly heartbreaking and powerful message behind “Speak, even if your voice shakes”.
Research has found that the minority of students that report bullying to teachers or councillors when they are bullied, but when they do speak up, 30% of the time the bullying stops and a further 40% of the time, the bullying is reduced (The Project, 2018). The answer to ending bullying is that simple. Speaking about it saves lives. So, speak, even if your voice shakes.
As mentioned previously, through convergence technology, the video was shared across multiple social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, resulting in a viral video to raise awareness that reached million’s in real time. As a result, this online movement was utilised with the tool of SNS’s in order to bring awareness to the severity of bullying that could potentially save lives. This movement has demonstrated a clear and positive message – that there should be zero tolerance towards bullying, and by changing behaviours, could result in a life saved now or in the future.
Equal Opportunities – Fighting against Inequality through SNS
Over the decades, progress has been made in terms of equal opportunities both online and in reality. Within the past decade, Social Networking Sites have had an impact on the promotion and awareness of global issues involving inequality. Between the month of January 2014 and the month of January 2015, discussions of issues surrounding women’s equality increased by a whooping 60% on the Twitter platform. SNS’s such as Twitter is a place for everyone to be able to come together and discuss issues on equality, for example the wage gap (Howard, 2015).
1: #BlackLivesMatter
There is no doubt that the impact of SNS’s has effectively and efficiently raised awareness on social justice, social issues and political issues. The Black Lives Matter civil rights movement was created by three tech-savvy activists who successfully brought awareness and headlines to the violence against African-Americans. The movement was centralised around the trial of George Zimmerman who shot dead a 17-year-old African-American boy, by the name of Trayvon Martin (Day, 2015). The movement followed on since, and noticeably higher use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was used following on various social networks following on from violent events that happened to African-American’s. The #BlackLivesMatter movement has proven to be one of the most successful activist movements reaching a substantial number of users and subsequently created awareness and action against injustice within the African-American community.
2: #HeForShe
HeForShe is an online movement for gender equality. The movement encourages “action right now to create a gender equal world” (HeForShe, 2018). As previously discussed, Deepika Padukone (2018) says “I think it is extremely important for those who are in positions of influence or power to bring about social change. It is extremely important for them to speak up about whatever issue it might be” which rationalises why world-recognised actor and activist Emma Watson was chosen as ambassador for this movement. The movement began with Emma Watson’s speech from United Nations (September 22, 2014) which can be viewed on the SNS of YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkjW9PZBRfk. In Watson’s speech, she encourages men to be the “He for She” meaning men who encourage equal rights for both women and men. Watson also clearly noted the common misconception that feminism is equal to misandry. The movement was widely spread converging from SNS YouTube to SNS Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. This demonstrates that SNS played a large role in the promotion, acknowledgement and awareness of gender inequality and the gender gap.
Conclusion
It has been made evident that social networking sites have revolutionised the world we live in, specifically for Millennials. This conference paper has highlighted the most recent findings on the positive aspects of social networking sites and how this has increased awareness and change regarding equal opportunities and social justice. As discussed, online movements through SNS’s have provided users with an opportunity to speak up regarding social injustice on issues that users feel passionate about. Online communities have rallied on SNSs, often influenced by the interests of those in their online social media networks. What has been made noticeably clear was that SNS’s have the ability to create an emotional response that inspires users to work together towards tackling global issues (Hansen, 2018). Online movements such as #BlackLivesMatter #HeForShe #MeToo and #DoItForDolly have proven to be some of the most successful activist movements reaching a substantial number of users creating awareness and action against injustice and inequality. Last but not least, I would like to thank you for taking the time to participate, engage and read my conference paper. I encourage you to comment any feedback and constructive criticism you have. I look forward to reading your comments and speaking with you in the near future.
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