Do you think there are examples in history where without the aid of social media change would never have happened? Some may say that using social media as the primary tool to produce social change merely brings an issue to the attention of many people but never motivates them enough to actually do something (Kony — The Invisible Children 2012) and that real social change can only occur because of close ties between people who share them with conviction. Do you agree or disagree?
I currently believe that social media is a catalyst to social change, because any way people can connect more than before should speed up the process to actually having an effect. Though, isn't it possible to be connected to too many people before they can be organized there-by creating noise? Per haps presenting ideas to the masses this way creates noise but reaches more people who will become active than any other method. What do you think?
I think it can and has. Look at what social media did to help fuel the arab spring and occupy wall street. Whether those have long lasting effects and whether you consider those effects "significant" is subjective to an extent. Also, look at the modern American political process. So much of that is driven by social media and it certainly has an impact on the outcomes. Also, the amount of good it does on an individual level is pretty amazing too. Reddit has been a great example of this imo. I recall donating money to help a little boy's parents pay for his surgery at Duke Medical Center. I wouldn't have known about it without reddit. Ask that kid and his family if social media can effect positive change. Social media cannot fix a broken idea or organization though, which is what we saw with Kony and to an extent OWS. Eventually, a really big and well run movement will harness social media to it's fullest potential and we will likely see something of unparalleled change. Hopefully, it's a positive "thing".