The document discusses the role of social media in political activism. It presents arguments from skeptics (social media only enables "slacktivism" and shallow engagement) and believers (social media has facilitated coordination of large protests and spread of information in places like the Arab Spring). While social media provided new channels of communication, real change requires meaningful on-the-ground activism. The role of social media also depends on factors like censorship policies of platforms and governments. Overall, the impact is complex with evidence on both sides.

1. By Sarah Joseph

2. The advent of social media has played no
major role in facilitating political activism.
 Activity: In groups, argue for (The Skeptics
Argument) or against (The Believers
Argument) this statement
 Tweet your responses to #MDIA5003 and
begin your tweet with for or against

3.  A group of Internet-based
applications that build on the
ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0
 Includes: collaborative
projects, virtual
worlds, blogs, content communities and social networking
 Depends on access to the internet
 High access in the West and low access in the developing
word
 Mobile social media has increased access

4.  OECD specifies 3 criteria for a
classification of “user generated”:
1. It should be available on a
publically accessible site
2. It entails a minimum amount of
creative effort
3. It is “created outside of
professional routines and practices”

5.  Real social change is brought
about by high-risk meaningful
activism
 Social media connections promote low-risk
activism or “slacktivism”
 Social media create loose, leaderless networks
that are incapable of organising revolutions

6.  Social media creates
quicker and louder
conversations but they
are shallow, short, and
easily displaced
 Vast volumes of information
through social media and
24/7 news cycles creates shorter attention spans
 Important news is quickly supplanted by new developments
elsewhere

7.  Social media is the
catalyst for significant
political change
 It plays a role in
coordinating protests
 It has revolutionised the way people form
political opinions

8.  Access to information
 Expands access to human rights abuse
 Penetrates the veil of secrecy thrown up by repressive
regimes
 Reporting is no longer confined to traditional sources
 Conversation and debate
 Social media as a mass facilitator of conversation

9.  Egypt shut down its internet for 5 days, disrupting social media
communication
 This mobilised people to “find creative ways to organise and
communicate”
 Facebook pages acted as an initial platform for calls to protest
and were a factor in mobilising movements
 Social media played a central role in shaping political
conversations inside and outside the Arab region in early 2011
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZwNb11n9zk

10.  “The Skeptics” Argument
◦ Gladwell asserts that social movements require organised
hierarchies, not loose social networks, yet the Arab protest
lacks a hierarchy
 “The Believers” Argument
◦ Social media fulfilled the functions in Shirky’s two steps by
providing information and facilitating conversation about
political matters
◦ http://www.facebook.com/pages/TIDBT-The-Arab-
Spring/305321099540513?ref=ts

11.  Social media can spread good ideas just as easily
as it can spread bad ideas
◦ Facilitate pro-democracy activism - facilitate oppression
◦ Support pro-democracy forces - push pro-government
propaganda
◦ Communicate reliable information - communication
misinformation
 Social media platforms are neutral tools

12.  Twitter executives are openly proud of the role
their tools have played in the Arab Spring
 YouTube has expressed a similar opinion to
Twitter
 Facebook’s strict policy against fake identifies
and pseudonyms led to the removal of content
related to the Arab Spring

13.  The value of social media sites to political change is
the extent to which the site is censored
 Twitter claims that it avoid censorship as much as
possible
 Facebook states that its users cannot post content
that is hateful, threatening, incites violence or that is
unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory
 YouTube specifies that videos should not show
graphic or gratuitous violence or hate speech

14.  The major social media companies exercise a
power over politics that does not equal their
expertise or responsibility
 They have largely been passive facilitators of
revolution
 They will “do the right thing” to the extent that
such activism does not conflict with their
commercial goals

15. The advent of social media has played no major role
in facilitating political activism.
 Activity: In groups, argue for (The Skeptics Argument)
or against (The Believers Argument) this statement
 Tweet your responses to #MDIA5003 and begin your
tweet with for or against
 http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67325/malco
lm-gladwell-and-clay-shirky/from-innovation-to-
revolution#