Throughout this conference paper, there is an extreme focus on how media platforms and social networks have integrated to bring justice to the African American community.  In 2021, the African American community were ‘the second largest minority population in the United States’ (Census Bureau, 2024). Regardless of the high population count, this community have been discriminated and marginalised for decades within society and continue to be segregated today. Platforms and networks have been used tirelessly for amplifying marginalised voices, raising awareness, and sharing to the world the injustice that is served to the African American community. The focus of this paper is to highlight the positive contribution that social networks and media platforms have on advocating for the African American community. To explore case studies and research articles that have provided first hand experiences and information that further delve into the issue at hand.  The focus of this paper fits within the online advocacy conference stream as it dives into how online platforms are used and can further be used to allow for the African American community to advocate for themselves, as well as the society providing valuable insights.

As a young white female, I have been fortunate enough to not have to face the social injustice that many of my peers and the wider community face. However, as I listen to other individuals’ personal experiences, and recount first hand experiences of racial abuse I have witnessed, I find it my duty to bring awareness and speak on the issues that society seems to ignore. I find myself guilty of crimes that I did not commit, but those that look like me thought was the right thing to do, bringing my colour under scrutiny. The idea of ‘superior’ ethnicities is a pitiful notion that should be abolished, as new generations begin a new season of equality. It is imperative to discuss how the use of social networking plays a vital role in encouraging the African American community to speak out and is an ideal method for us to rally together and fight the injustice today.

Social networks and media platforms play vital roles in enabling the African American community to advocate for social justice within the online community. Individuals from marginalised communities use online platforms for advocacy and representation. Social media is one of the leading uses of sharing information, especially considering social issues. In 2020, the police brutality incident killing George Floyd sparked one of the biggest movements in the world, Black Lives Matter (BLM). Following Floyd, there was numerous killings due to police brutality and racially motivated violence, further provoking the worldwide outrage and protest movement. Throughout this worldwide phenomenon, the use of social media became a quick selling avenue for society to advocate, give their opinion, and remind society of the social injustice that the African American community faces. This paper will address how social media has raised awareness for this community, and how numerous case studies will not only support this information, but shed light as to why this is an issue that we still face today. It will present evident findings on how social networks and media platforms have increased the advocation for social justice.

During the peak of the BLM movement, the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was roughly used 47.8 million times on Twitter between May and June 2020 (Anderson et al., 2020). The use of this hashtag was prominent in the message that black lives have been neglected, and that it was time for society to be held accountable with this mistreatment. The BlackLivesMatter hashtag generated following a fatal shooting in 2012 of Tray von Martin and gained immediate traction when the officer at fault (George Zimmerman) was acquitted of murder. However, its momentum plateaued until the 2020 death of George Floyd who died in Minneapolis, Minnesota whilst in police custody. Anderson et al. (2020) tracked the usage of this hashtag using social media insights platform, Crimson Hexagon, analysing the period of May 1, 2018, to June 7, 2020. Social networking was the driving factor in spreading the information that Floyd was ‘murdered’, in which began the spike in #BlackLivesMatter. Three days after the incident occurred, 8.8 million tweets that contained the hashtag were posted which Anderson stated was the highest number of uses for this (hashtag) in a single day since the Crimson Hexagon was implemented to start tracking its use.

As discussed by Lake, Alston and Kahn (2018) social networking has been used to show the ‘relationship between the use of social networking (SN) websites for policing-related content, beliefs about inequality and engagement in racial justice movements.’ Throughout their research article that profiles the use of social networking, Lake, Alston and Kahn (2018) discussed the motivations that followed using #BlackLivesMatter. They analysed that the alongside other social networking usage, this hashtag ‘has been credited with increasing engagement in social and political causes aimed at reducing racial bias in policing worldwide’ (with contribution of Tharoor, 2016). The main focus of this study was related to the focus of social networking use in regard to perceived attitudes about BLM. Using an online survey, the results showed that social networking site use alone may not be enough to influence the community that are hindered to the facts of oppression and/or privilege, to show their support for BLM.

While conducting research, it is evident that the academic society has quite a united front on how social networks and media platforms are vital to the success in creating awareness and advocating for any specific issue. Media serves as a space for marginalised groups to assert their identities, raise awareness about their struggles, and advocate for social justice. However, there are challenges that individuals and groups face when voicing their thoughts online, or simply organising movements regarding social issues. Mundt, Ross and Burnett (2018) highlight the challenges that they encountered throughout their study, emphasising the difficulty of gaining traction with social media alone. Creating engagement from behind the screen, or within a media platform, can become difficult as there is limited accessibility organisers have. Secondly, the conflict those social media activists face in regard to individuals with opposing opinions, draw the attention away from the issue at hand.

However, once the challenges that online platforms originally face are diminished or mitigated, there is an opportunity for an inviting platform to be utilised. Twitter and Facebook have been platforms for stories of injustice and systemic racism to be heard, further leading into how the marginalised voices are now amplified as the community becomes aware of the social injustice issues. As discussed throughout this paper using case studies and research articles, the use of the Black Lives Matter hashtag, has provided a simple but effective way to generate attention and awareness of the stories that have shown why society is negligent to the injustice of thew African American community.

Social networks have also been driving factors in global reach and documenting the social injustice. Social networking sites are known to spread information faster than any other media with over 50% of people learning about breaking news on social media (ProCon.org, 2022). Knowing this, it is imperative that information on social media is factual, and facilitated in a manner that organisations can allow for the BLM movement to gain support on the global scale. With an influential reach, the Black Lives Matter movement is able to inspire those within the community to show solidarity and unite with the broader community to work together towards the end objective, of bringing social injustice to an end.

As briefly stated just before, spreading information that is factual and compelling is vital to drawing success and support. With the Black Lives Matter movement, it was and still is imperative to document real-time accounts of police brutality, racial profiling and injustice that is suffered. Visual evidence of these play key roles in holding society accountable that contribute to the injustice and raise public awareness that the system is broken and needs a systemic improvement. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are platforms that are suitable in presenting this documented evidence due to the effectiveness of spreading information.

This paper has highlighted how case studies and research articles have demonstrated the profound use of social networking and media platforms to encourage the African American community to advocate. Discrimination and marginalisation of these individuals have been overlooked by the wider community. Fortunately, the increased awareness of media platforms has made it easier and brought recognition to those voices that have been previously neglected. Whilst the George Floyd killing should have been prevented, it is the unfortunate reality and awakening that society needed to make a change. It is imperative as a community, as one society, to utilise our resources and invaluable tools accessible to us to drive this much needed systemic change.

Census Bureau. (2024, January 18). Black/African American Health | Office of Minority Health. Minorityhealth.hhs.gov. https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/blackafrican-american-health#:~:text=Overview%20(Demographics)

Anderson, M., Barthel, M., Perrin, A., & Vogels, E. A. (2020, June 20). #BlackLivesMatter surges on Twitter after George Floyd’s death. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/06/10/blacklivesmatter-surges-on-twitter-after-george-floyds-death/#:~:text=For%20instance%2C%20in%20early%20May

Lake, J. S., Alston, A. T., & Kahn, K. B. (2018). How Social Networking Use and Beliefs About Inequality Affect Engagement With Racial Justice Movements. Race and Justice, 11(4), 215336871880983. https://doi.org/10.1177/2153368718809833

Tharoor, I. (2016, July 12). Black Lives Matter is a global cause. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/07/12/black-lives-matter-is-a-global-cause/

Mundt, M., Ross, K., & Burnett, C. M. (2018). Scaling Social Movements Through Social Media: The Case of Black Lives Matter. Social Media + Society, 4(4), 1–14.  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305118807911

ProCon.org. (2022). Pros and Cons/Social Networking. http://vitaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/Social-Networking.pdf