Digital Justice

Activism and Social Media

As Citizen Journalism continues to arise and develop, so to does the way we interact with social activism and the way we broadcast our messages to the world.

Naturally, with the progression of availability and features of social media, the usage of these platforms to spread messages related to social activism has become significant. People are able to share footage and information from protests and rallies, even live stream events for information to be instantly spread to viewers.

The #Hashtags

To examine a model of modern activism as affected by social media, we can look to hashtags and their virtues for activism. Over the past few years, many hashtags related to social issues have gone viral, raising awareness of the general populations to certain topics that activists concern.

One of the first hashtags linked predominantly to activism that blew up is #BlackLivesMatter, and brought about conversations across the world based upon the treatment and regards of African American people. By spreading this hashtag across media platforms, access to messages about the relevant issues is made easy, and pushes people to consider the subject when they notice how many others are sharing their own input with the hashtag.

Technological Determinism

A theory developed by Thorstein Veblen and later developed by Karl Marx, ‘Technological Determinism’ essentially indicates that technology moulds social structure and cultural values.  

“We can think of technological determinism as an approach that identifies technology, or technological advances, as the central causal element in processes of social change”

Croteau, Hoynes. “Communication Theory: Technological Determinism.”

Considering this theory, it is suggested that technological developments are central to influencing societal changes; smartphones and social media act as catalysts for changes and evolution of social activism.

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Bibliography

Anderson, Toor, Rainie, Smith. “Activism in the Social Media Age” July 11, 2018. Pew Research Centre. Accessed August 20, 2019. https://www.pewinternet.org/2018/07/11/activism-in-the-social-media-age/

David Croteau, William Hoynes. “Communication Theory: Technological Determinism.” Communicationtheory.org.  Accessed August 21, 2019. https://www.communicationtheory.org/technological-determinism/