HOW THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IS IMPACTING THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT AND AN EVALUATION OF ITS EFFECTIVENESS
HILLARY ALTES
HEALTH HEAD
Social media has been used to share key information and advocate for political beliefs for years. However, the death of George Floyd, as well as many other cases of police brutality and covert racism against the African American community, has prompted the Black Lives Matter movement to spread rapidly throughout the social networking world. All across my Instagram feed, there are countless stories reposting ways to help the situation and graphics that show support for the movement. The public outcry for change is prevalent, and social media is being used as a tool of advocacy. While some of these posts are bringing about positive change, others are ineffective and potentially disadvantageous to the movement.
I scrolled through too many black screens to count on June 2nd because over half the people I follow posted them with the hashtag #blackouttuesday. The hashtag was occasionally followed by a few heartfelt paragraphs regarding the injustice of the situation but often was only accompanied by a sentence or two at most. As the day went on, posting a black screen became more about following the trend and less about the meaning behind it. Most people posting these screens had good intentions and wanted to show their support, and I am not claiming that they did anything wrong in doing so. However, not much positive change was brought about as a result of the social media blackout. The voices of African American activists need to be heard now more than ever, so having a virtual day of silence is not effective in encouraging the spread of vital information.
To make matters more complicated, some people were using the hashtag #blacklivesmatter with their posts. This filled the hashtag with countless black screens, hiding the important information, resources, and documentation of injustices that had previously been accessible. Some social media platforms alerted the public that this was the case and encouraged us to delete any black screens that had the hashtag. I did not post a black screen in the first place, but I asked some of my friends who did if they used that hashtag. For those who did, only about half of them actually deleted their posts or reuploaded the black screen without the hashtag. Those who did not delete their post even though they had used the hashtag claimed that “it was too late to take it down” and that they “didn’t want to seem like they had just posted it for a few hours and then abandoned the cause”*. Despite knowing that their actions could have a potentially negative impact on the accessibility of crucial information, the need to adhere to social norms and maintain a good public presence trumped all else.
The intention of the movement was for people to stop promoting themselves on social media and instead uplift members of the black community, not for thousands of teenagers to post black screens to be a part of a trend. A similar initiative was a story chain that gained popularity a few days ago where people would post #blacklivesmatter and tag five people who would then have to do the same. The intentions behind this were to show solidarity and spread the message, but this soon also began to feel like a trend that everyone was doing out of obligation.
Participating in the previously mentioned social media initiatives is not doing much to help the actual cause. While this is not always the case, many people are reposting things without actually doing anything to benefit the movement. Slacktivism is a term that is relevant in this situation. A person may genuinely care about a cause, but their efforts to support it are superficial because sharing a post often does not have any direct effect on the issue. It is not enough to just advocate over social media if your actions do not reflect that support.
To clarify, I do not believe that there is anything wrong with participating in these social media initiatives as long as you are expressing your beliefs in a constructive manner and putting in a conscious effort to do what you can for the movement. There are extremely constructive ways to advocate through social media as well. For example, many people have used their voice on social media to spread information about how to get involved and help the cause. There have been countless reposts of current events and key information as well as ways to educate yourself, which are especially beneficial if they are accompanied by ways to directly help the cause. Many threads mention and give links to petitions to sign, phone numbers to text or call, and emails to send in order to demand justice. There are also lists of organizations to donate to and guides to help protesters stay safe while they exercise their freedom of speech.
That kind of post needs to be spread in order to inform more people of how they can help, and it reflects the power of social media to initiate great change. Social networking is an incredibly relevant tool in modern society, but it is our responsibility to use it effectively and take our advocacy beyond just a few clicks.
Sources:
*a primary source wishes to stay anonymous
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