īeyond individual activism, the most influential contemporary movements have also worked substantially online to bring awareness to issues, to highlight social and cultural inequities, or to help change behavior. adults report that social media is very or somewhat important for getting elected officials to pay attention to issues, while a similar share (67%) say these sites are at least somewhat important for creating sustained movements for social change. Even before George Floyd, more than half of all Americans participated in some form of political or social activism on social media, and 32% used social media to encourage others to take action on an issue that was important to them. In 2020-21, we have seen this begin to inspire deeper social, cultural, and legal change, in ways that previously felt like distant hope.Īmericans increasingly use social media for political engagement in a “digitally networked public sphere” that has come to shape social movements.
In this case, BLM effectively leveraged social media to fuel and facilitate mass protests and broaden social awareness. In this essay, we use empirical data to support a theoretical model that illustrates how contemporary movements can use social media to build awareness, educate, and most importantly, promote the kinds of offline action that can lead to deeper structural change. We have seen in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, and more specifically the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, a new and powerful approach to using social media that goes beyond symbolic “slacktivism” and performative allyship to mobilizing people for social and cultural change. We saw how online and on-the-ground activism can fuel each other and build momentum in ways neither can achieve in isolation.
But the sustained activism that followed George Floyd’s death and the ongoing movement for racial justice also demonstrated how social media can be a crucial mechanism of social change. From the haters and hackers to propaganda and privacy concerns, social media often deserves its bad reputation.
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