English
Introduction
The identified problem is why social media has become an avenue for activism especially for the youth. It is important to determine the effect of activism in social media among the youth because it may also trigger violence. Some of the possible causes of activism in social media include the desire of the youth for changes or reforms inside the campus, government or in the community. The people and institutions who are involved with this problem on social media activism are the youth, students, academic institutions, the government and the community. The possible solution to the problem is by giving the youth the opportunity to be heard. A give and take relationship between the youth activists, the school administration or the government will be able to solve their differences. Cyber protests appear to be more effective because it allowed the activists to express their anger and frustration easily without having to organize an actual uprising. For this research, the sources that will be used during the inquiry will be peer-reviewed journals and academic books.
Discussion
One of the sources that will be used is the article written by a group of authors La Riviere, Snider, Stromberg, and O’Meara, entitled “Protest: Critical Lessons of Using Digital Media for Social Change”. This article was published in the journal called “About Campus”, under Volume 17, Number pages, 10-17. I chose this article for my exploration because it discusses the implications on the different methods, avenues and technology at present time, as compared to what is available 40 years ago. This article will help the educators understand the current generation of students, as they demand for change. Some of the information that I gathered using this article revealed that student who are under the age of 30, and comprise of 39 percent of students have been using the social networking media primarily for political use. This is opposed to the 16 percent of nonstudent peers (La Riviere et l., 2012, p.12). On the other hand, the contemporary activists resorted to social media to vent their political agendas and positions, but also to organize their groups by inviting others. This information is important because it will provide an explanation why social media is beneficial for activists by allowing them to connect in diverse groups and make them feel connected by a common experience (La Riviere et al., 2012). When social media was not yet in place, student protests were mobilized through fliers, advertisements and phone calls since they are bound only within campus vicinity. Social media assisted in building and distributing leadership by getting more people involved for a common objective. The instantaneous nature of the internet strengthens student activism (La Riviere et al., 2012).
The second source I used is the book that was written by Leah Lievrouw, entitled “Alternative and Activist New Media”, which was published in 2011 in Cambridge, U.K. by Polity Press. This book discussed the modern approaches that the activists and other citizen groups utilize through social media and information technology to express their views. The dominant social media became the voice of the activists to present their views. The information provided by this book is significant to explain the concept of media culture.
The third source that will be used is the book written by Earl and Kimport entitled “Digitally Enabled Social Change: Activism in the Internet Age”. The book was released in 2011 and was published by Massachusetts Information Technology. This book is important because it has presented the effect of social media in the internet age to ignite activism. The information provided in this book is relevant to the issue on the relationship of social media and activism by using the internet.
The fourth source is peer-reviewed journal written by Amin in 2010, entitled “The Empire Strikes Back: Social Media Uprisings and the Future of Cyber Activism”. The article was published in the journal called “Kennedy School Review” under Volume 10, pages 64-66. This article explored how media activism works and how it can be utilized as an alternative vehicle to effect civic activity. The information from this article is applicable to the problem because it explained why social media became the new form of decentralized leadership that provided encouragement for greater civic activism that is more resistant to shock (Amin, 2010, p.65).
Conclusion
It can be concluded that social media has become an avenue for activism especially for the youth because cyber protests is more effective than the actual protests. With this research, I was able to determine the effect of activism in social media among the youth because it may also trigger violence. The sources that I used helped to think differently about the problem by presenting one of the most significant threats to digital activism when cyber protests take the place of actual protests in the public square (Amin, 2010). The identified cause of activism in social media is that more activists go online to express their angst, frustration and energy since they see that other people have turned blind to their efforts. At the same time, the large-scale protest or movements are more difficult to organize compared to digital activism through the use of social media.
References:
Amin, R. (2010). The Empire Strikes Back: Social Media Uprisings and the Future of Cyber Activism. Kennedy School Review, 10, 64-66.
Earl, J. and Kimport, K. (2011). Digitally Enabled Social Change: Activism in the Internet Age. Massachusetts: MIT.
La Riviere, K., Snider, J., Stromberg, A. and O’Meara, K.A. (2012). Protest: Critical Lessons of Using Digital Media for Social Change. About Campus, 17(3), 10-17.
Lievrouw, L. (2011). Alternative and Activist New Media. Cambridge: Polity Press.
