The Age of Online Activism. (2015, April 01). Retrieved from https://thecord.ca/the-age-of-online-activism/
Digital activism versus online activism is an interesting topic. Digital activism or online activism is when people take what they are passionate about to social media. Many activists have taken to online platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, instead of the actual streets to protest.
An amazing example of these online activism movements, normally always including hashtags would be my favorite, the #dresslikeawoman movement. This came about after President Trump was reportedly asking his staff to dress more feminine, or to “dress like women”.
Uniform. #DressLikeAWoman #ParamedicServicesWeek pic.twitter.com/PRAlbRZE8p— Send Paramedics (@Send_Paramedics) May 30, 2019
Social media has became the forefront and new frontier of all things information, and spreading the word faster than it has ever been able to be spread before. “The speed at which information is spread through social media is the main reason why platforms such as Facebook or Twitter have had increasingly large roles in civil society, even fueling revolution” (www.kimgarst.com). According to http://www.kimgarst.com she cites four instances when social media fueled a revolution. The first one she talks about was the Libyan revolution. Social Media aided this movement in the sense that social media became the most reliable form of social media. The second instance was the Arab Spring. In the Spring of 2011, the world was thrown into the chaos of what became known as the Arab Spring through an online frenzy of activity. Over 3 million tweets on Twitter, hundreds of hours of Youtube video, and countless posts on Facebook and blogs told stories of the revolution from citizens who needed to get their voices heard. While the revolution began in Egypt, Twitter was critical in the spreading of revolutionary messages across northern Africa and across the Middle East. Government attempts to cut off cellphone and Internet service only fueled the fire, and increased awareness of the citizens’ plight even further. On the heels of the Arab Spring movement the world next saw the Occupy Wall Street revolution. Occupy Wallstreet was strategies that included impromptu meeting times and locations, and spreading awareness of what was happening during those organized meetings. Without the power of the web and of social media, it would have been impossible to gather so many people in one area so quickly. Finally she introduced the Ukranian Revolution. This was a revolution I had never even heard of. The more I read the more interested I became. This movement changed the whole social media landscape of the entire country.
There are ways to manage your online and offline activist activities. Managing your online activism activities consists off ensuring you and the message you are trying to get out is identified as an achievable goal. You also always want to honor your volunteers and those who help spread your message all through out social media platforms. The final way to manage your online activism is to make sure you genuinely understand each social media platform you are going to put your message or messages on.
Sources:
Alam, M. (2017, September 15). Online VS Offline Activism: Which Is More Effective? Retrieved from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/online-versus-offline-activism
Hunt, T., Hunt, T. H., Ross, J., Davis, Howg, M., & Kafie, G. (2018, May 22). 4 Instances When Social Media Fueled a Revolution. Retrieved from https://kimgarst.com/4-instances-social-media-fueled-revolution/
Brickman, L. (2017, April 18). 3 Ways To Win At Social Media Activism. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabrickman/2017/04/18/three-commandments-for-online-activism/#70f13bb4427f
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