Social Media Activism: Slacktivism

Last week, Ms. Christina Riley discussed social media activism as well as slacktivism with the idea of how people should be responding to social issues using the media. While the overall idea of slacktivism came into play by discussing popular hashtags as well as black square posts. In all, she taught us how activism can be greatly supported with the use of social media and its ability to spread word fast.

Besides this lesson, our other visiting scholars also discussed topics relative to media and how we can reflect our personal usage of the media. While all these topics were interesting, it was most perplexing to see how people choose to use their social media platforms. While most use Instagram, Snapchat, and. Twitter as social sites to catch. up with news, friends, and family; these sites are most commonly used for activism. And yes, while activism can reflect positively on the organization or group, we can ask, is it really worth it?

Form these lessons, it is evident that social media activism has become this trend in which you do not participate, people will then judge you. Here is where the definition of slacktivism comes in to explain the idea of participation without doing any "real support work." For me personally, this is a tick. As important as it is to speak and fight for what's right, posting something on social media is doing little to nothing. If anything, the post surfacing Instagram being curated by one person, is making profit from the amount of attention its receiving; not the organization. Additionally, people oversharing their ideas can cause issues between personal relationships as well as with careers. Since most companies and organizations now check peoples social media accounts in order to reflect on the individual, it is important to not post too much controversial topics. Yes, it is our right to freedom of speech, but my point reflects that sometimes it's better to share less in order to protect yourself.

From these discussions as well as my own knowledge, learning activism in social media is an important topic to be discussed. With the media flourishing in popularity, it only makes sense to take the worlds largest issues there. Although knowing the boundaries and consequences media can bring is something we all need to keep in the back of our mind; to therefore ensure this information is avoiding the wrong crowd.