Perspectives: #SocialJustice

On February 11, tragic news broke that three Muslim residents of Chapel Hill
North Carolina community were murdered execution-style in the parking lot of their
home. While many people wanted to hear news updates as soon as possible, to
comprehend what happened, there was an evident lack of mass media coverage.
Popular social media giant Twitter seemed to be the main source for updating
information about the shooting. Freelance writers and journalists, Chapel Hill law
enforcement, and local news stations kept people informed though tweets of 140
characters or less, which seemed come in an endless flow. The hashtag
"ChapleHillShoots" and "MuslimLivesMatter" started trending internationally merely
four hours after the shootings. In situations when mass media news channels such as Fox
News, CNN, MSNBC, and others choose to ignore news or proceed with limited
coverage, for whatever reason, social media has become an effective platform for news
that matters to the public.
The number of social media sites available is well above 50 sites, and
counting. 67 percent of Americans have some form of personal social media account,
according to Statista.com data. A recent article written by Monica Anderson and
Andrea Caumont for Pew Research Center states, "Half of social network site users
have shared news stories, images or videos , and nearly as many (46%) have discussed a
news issue or event. In addition to sharing news on social media, a small number are also
covering the news themselves, by posting photos or videos of news events."
Today, not only is social media participating in the discussion of news events,
it is now facilitating and breaking news as well. People are posting videos or pictures
of major events as they happen. Recently in Ferguson, Missouri, protestors posted
pictures of they way law enforcement was treating resistance, as well as looters attacking
the city. It is very clear that news has a place in social media. The difficult part is
deciphering the credible sources from satirical and biased account, which is not very
different from network news.
Social media has the potential not only to report news, but also the ability to
invoke change by reaching mass amounts of people. The power of social media has been
demonstrated most effectively in politics, particularly with the 2008 election of President
Barrack Obama. He was the first presidential candidate with the ability to use social
media as a platform to reach voters, especially the younger voters. Co-authors Andy
Smith and Jennifer Aakers write in their book, “The Dragonfly Effect,” "The Obama
campaign reached 5 million supporters on 15 different social Networks over the course of campaign season; by November 2008, Obama had approximately 2.5 million (some
sources say as many as 3.2 million) Facebook supporters, 115,000 Twitter followers, and
50 million viewers of his YouTube channel."
One of the most powerful tools created by social media is the power of the
hashtag and Trending Topics. The hashtag "#JeSuisCharlie," after the bombings in
France, became the most tweeted and retweeted hashtag in Twitter history. Hashtags
make it easy to promote awareness for a certain topic or event and can be seen on every
twitter feed around the world.
There are many things that come along with using social media. Bullying,
hatred, ignorance, identity theft, "catfishing", and so many other negative aspects are just
as easy and common as all of the great things that social media can produce. Social
Media is just a tool. The people who choose to use it, and how they use it, hold the power
to make positive change in the world. I can't help but think this may be what the
Founding Fathers of the United States meant when they said, "We the people."