Social media protests; and their impact

An article by Ehsan Siddiqui

 25th May 2020, in Minneapolis of Minnesota state in the USA a negro-man named George Floyd became prey to the history of police brutality and racial discrimination in the country. A policeman was captured on video pressing his knee against Floyd's neck who was laying on the ground motionless for a duration of around 9 minutes. the last words of the dying man on the ground "I Can't Breathe" sparked a worldwide movement against the oppression on racial grounds, hundreds of thousands of people took to streets of not only America but a number of other countries as well. However, this was not it various social medial platforms like twitter, Facebook and Instagram were also stormed by a flood of millions of posts supporting the cause. "Black lives matter" movement is not a standalone case in which people took the help of social media to express their dissent. A few months back in India also social media was widely used to oppose the controversial 'Citizen Amendment Act'. We have an ample of examples from the bygone decade when a place to virtually connect and socialize people on the web was used enormously to protest. here some questions arise that What it is about these social media protests that they have gained such popularity over the years? and How much do they really matter?

 How it all started?

The significant emergence of online social movements can be traced back to the Arab spring of around late 2010. When a movement started because of a fruit vendor in the African country of Tunisia set himself ablaze after an argument with a local policeman.  This particular incident acted as 'the butterfly effect' for anti-government movements in various countries in the Arabian peninsula. This was a time when social platforms like Twitter and Facebook were gaining massive popularity around the globe. People saw this virtual space as an excellent platform to support their cause. This country-wide protest led to the ousting of Tunisian president who ruled the small country for more than two decades. however surprisingly this was not the only biggest accomplishment of the movement. What it did was to show the people across the blue planet a new and convenient way to express their dissent. in a short span of time online social movements spread across the middle-east. An Egyptian activist once said they used Facebook to schedule the protest, Twitter to coordinate and Youtube to tell the whole world about it.

In a blink of an eye.

There is no denying the fact that in this era of modern technology and Globalisation, Travel not only of goods and people but also of information and ideas has become rapid. Now a controversial bill in the Indian parliament can become a piece of breaking news in  Britain. Word now travels faster than ever. This phenomenon is clearly visible in movements and campaigns too. A few decades ago whether it be India's national freedom struggle under Mahatma Gandhi's leadership or the American civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King both took years and even decades to develop and reach the minds of masses, on the other hand, Today's Online campaigns take no more than a few hours to gather millions of participants.

This may sound like a wonderful achievement but it's not all Rainbows and Unicorns, While the internet boomed the participation of people in social movements and have increased the reach of such movements, it also has made the attention span of these participants like that of a gold-fish. There is just too much going-on online that's why not many movements and campaigns these days are able to stand even a few weeks. earlier when movements took years to develop. people had enough time to understand the cause and genuinely relate to it. it hardened their loyalty to their campaign which had a lasting effect on society. Rather than today's teenagers who use a trending hashtag to post something and forget about it in a couple of days.

Why is it so preferable?

An easier alternative

A majority of people have admitted that they have used social media at least once to express their dissent or protest against something. you might wonder what is it about online movements that they attract a huge number of people who don't take on roads for agitation. but rather use social media to voice their disagreement and supports. The answer to the question lies in a number of factors that have made protesting much more easier and feasible for the common man.

Minimal Risk

A revolution is never easy especially if you are fighting against the authorities, thousands of India's freedom fighters in the fight against Britishers faced a series of tragedies and hardships they were beaten up, arrested, imprisoned, tortured numerous times. Online social movements proposed a solution to this problem by minimizing the risk for the protestors. They now have a safer place to voice their depreciation for something without not much of a risk.

Non Centralised Protest

One of the key factors behind the exponential growth in the popularity of Social media Protests is it's characteristic of being able to manage alright without the necessity of a central leadership to head the movement. Hongkong presents a good of this case when Joshua Wong a high profile activist leader was arrested but the fight for Hongkong's autonomy continued without him. But this decentralized nature of online social movements has problems of its own like they are easily distracted from the issue. and it is difficult for the authorities to negotiate with campaigners.

why it fails?

Slacktivism 

Slacktivism is defined as "the practice of supporting or association with a social or political cause through means like social media or online petition characterized as involving very little effort or commitment." The humongous growth in popularity of social media platforms has given birth to this 'Slacktivism'. Today all of us have a significant number of these Slacktivists in our acquaintance, people who think they are making difference in the society by posting a picture of a black square in their Instagram account with 200 followers.

Free-rider approach 

A free-rider in social sciences is someone who wants to benefit from society without actually willing to contribute much to it. 

One of the Problems with  Online social movements is that a huge number of these free-riders are associated with them, these are the people who think already plentiful individuals are demonstrating in the streets so their participation does not mean much hence it is not necessary. This particular culture is one of the root causes behind the failure of great a many movements in recent years. 

Does it really matter? if yes, How much?

The question lurking in our minds since the start of the article is, does Social media protest really bring change?

The answer is yes and no.  The fact is undeniable that social media remains arguably the greatest platform for expression of thought and serves as a brilliant agent to convey information. we have examples of many successful online campaigns such as #Metoo movement. Online platforms have been an exquisite method to organize and coordinate protests. Social-media campaigns manage to draw public attention towards something but unfortunately, that's pretty much all they do. 

The online movements have failed to prove themselves successful in a fight particularly against the system and authorities if they are not accompanied by on-streets demonstrations and protests. Some of the reasons being they are easy to ignore and suppress, they are often short-term in nature. 

They do not ring bells in the ears of those in power like the physical and on-street show of dissent does. The easiest and cheesiest way to explain this is to say that online and social media protests are like Origano seasoning to physical demonstration and protest being the Pizza, it surely does enhance the flavor and usefulness of other but not of much use on its own.