How Digital Tech Impacts Social Change

During the Civil Rights Movement, there were three forms of digital mass media communication: television, newspaper and radio. All three played a huge role highlighting the plight of black Americans, as we know, the revolution WAS televised. Take for instance the photographs of Bloody Sunday, without these photos, the public would have been largely unaware of this unprovoked attack by law enforcement against peaceful civil rights protesters.
But, what if these civil rights activists of yesteryear had access to the Internet? What role could social media have made in the fight for equal rights? What difference would access to digital technologies and current technological advancements have made?

Equality in America is (unfortunately) a never ending battle and social media technologies have changed the way we fight. Protests are accompanied by hashtags; #blacklivesmatter, #stopthebans. There are websites, Twitter pages, Facebook groups dedicated to organizing marches, creating petitions, and disseminating news and information. Social media is one of the greatest tools of modern day activists, and when one considers the fact that Facebook and Twitter have a combined population of 558 million users, it's a pretty sharp tool.

"Social struggles for freedom, justice and equality have their similarities, to be sure. And to some extent, it seems we are still fighting for some of the same things, because the more things change, the more they remain the same. Racism and brutality are still around and apparently have no intention of leaving quietly. But the techniques and structures of organizing and movement building have met twenty-first century sensibilities. This new movement is online. It is on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, in your inbox and in a video on your cellphone," (Love, 2105).

Social media has changed our expectations of activism, not just what it means, but how it is done. And social activists like Shaun King, Colin Kapernick, and Maya Wiley recognize and harness the power of social media to ignite much needed change.

"The revolution will not only be televised but apparently it will also be uploaded, downloaded, streamed, posted and tweeted as well," (Love, 2015).

Reference

Love, David A. “How Technology and Social Media Spawned a New Civil Rights Movement.” TheGrio, TheGrio, 4 May 2015, thegrio.com/2015/05/04/technology-social-media-new-civil-rights/.