Social media may have begun as a way to make friends or finding old friends. Then perhaps its advancements led to searching for or staying in touch with long lost relatives– and soon the networking possibilities became endless!! Social media is often used for its commercial appeal, as it advertises and promotes concerts and restaurants and vacation getaways, among others. But social media has also become an important platform for social change and social activism. Within seconds, people can raise awareness and drum up support to a issue that is near and dear to them, and hope that their friends and family will share their enthusiasm and make donations to said cause or perhaps promote the cause by sharing and liking on Twitter and FB. And sometimes, social media will be an outlet for an exchange of ideas and conversations related to a specific cause, which generates buzz and possibly media attention.
How do I participate?? Well, as I glance at my FB today, I see several of my friends and the causes they are interested in, and their posts urging action of some kind or just awareness.
My friend Titus posted this morning about Beach Clean Up Day next week in Virginia Beach. My friend Linda is an avid dog lover and she regularly posts pictures of strays and dogs who need to be adopted. Linda sits on a committee at the Humane Society and she fosters dogs until they can find good homes. I see a lot of sad and sick looking dog pictures on Linda’s page. Some of them are hard to look at. My high school friend Diane is married to Colin, who has Cystic Fibrosis. Colin is a musician and Diane often posts details of fundraising efforts and concerts and wine parties that she does for the CF Foundation in Texas. She talks about the events and posts pictures of the organizing committee. It is effective. She asks for donations. Donations of time. Donations of money. Donations for the silent auction. My friend Janette is a runner. She runs every race she can, and each race has a theme. Janette races for breast cancer in honor of her late mother. She posts pictures of her outfits before each run and details each upcoming race in vivid detail. Janette also loves cats and once a year she will raise awareness for her local Fur Ball that her local shelter sponsors. A lot of my friends post healthy stuff, promoting clean eating or Meatless Mondays or lists of exercises and yoga poses to live a better life. My friend Jennifer posted this week that the Special Olympics events were being held at Emory University and her daughter was going to volunteer and Jennifer was going to go be a spectator. Then yesterday a friend of a friend posted that his niece Taylor was a participant in the Special Olympics games this weekend and showed her winning a prize in tennis. So whenever you have more than one person mention a special cause or initiative on social media, it tends to resonate more.
How many likes for the 5 year old kid who just completed their final chemo treatment and kicked cancer’s butt? You’ve seen them. You don’t’ know the kid. But you find yourself pressing like because you are teary at the thought of the kid going through that.
Then there are the political causes. My friends Aditi, Misse, and Kristi are all very strong supporters of the Democratic party, whereas my friends Kris, Jamie, and my Aunt Debbie are all proponents for the NRA and the Republican party. I am talking VERY vocal about their opinions about their belief system. They use social media to advertise for their favorite candidate. They post political cartoons or rants about the opposing viewpoints. It was dizzying during election year.
If you think about it, even GSU uses social media to promote its causes. To allow their followers vote on the candidates for SGA or to help determine the Homecoming theme, or select who we want to be the Spring concert. The Statesboro Herald uses social media to highlight candidate profiles and each day, I am seeing various candidates on my Facebook, even though I am not registered to vote in Bulloch county.
And don’t forget the religious causes. My friends Misse and Dan both work at churches. I had to unfriend a guy once who was a pastor- his preaching got to be too much for me. Other friends post motivational messages from Joel Osteen or provide pictures of Jesus during Easter and Christmas. Or links to articles or sermons.
Why do these people take to social media to start or promote a cause? Well, its easy. It is like a big Rolodex in one place. They can post colored fliers and information about events to rally support to people who otherwise may not have known about it. They can even post videos of the race or of the dogs who need homes and post it right there on your FB or Twitter. And they hope that it spreads like wildfire. That you will tell your friends. Or be moved enough to act in some way. Or just know that its important to them.
Social media provides information quickly. And it is personal, since it is from one of your friends, after all, but yet in other ways, it is less embarrassing that having to actually pick up the phone and ask for a donation.
I have never really initiated a movement personally–I have never asked for anything other than prayers from the people on my social media when my father was really sick last year. But I see the attraction of all of my friends who do take to social media. It is an easy way to get the message out. And lots of people see it. And lots of people talk about it. And some people have a lot of time on their hands, so the social media fosters good conversations about topics that are relevant.
The fact is, people rely on social media as their news sources sometimes, and rely on their friends to tell them about it. If there is a wildfire in California, chances are you saw something about it on your FB page. If a politician was assassinated, you’d see lots of people talking about it on their social media. If there is an initiative to save our planet, you’ll read about it on social media. Perhaps you trust your friends more than you do conventional media these days. Just a thought. : ) katie
kathrynfranks9668 
Wow, your post is long haha. You seem to have a lot of friends that are avid activists. I’m glad that there are so many people who can go out and be a part of so much good in this world. *Faith in Humanity Restored*
Although you haven’t personally started any movements via social media, you seem to have a lot of friends who engage in similar activity. Is there anything you feel strongly enough about that you could possibly see yourself creating a social media movement for?