Social activism, today, has been redefined by the new tools of social media. While surfing the web, looking for ideas for my new blog-post, I came across an article a friend of mine had posted on her facebook wall. It was about a gay couple - Jonathan Williams and James Bull who were asked to leave from a pub in London for kissing in public. Williams then put up a post on twitter and it was soon retweeted over and over again by several supporters.
"Seven years in London & I've never been made to feel bad for being gay. 45 min ago the John Snow pub, W1F had me removed for kissing a date."
Soon, it had garnered enough public support to schedule two kiss-ins at the John Snow pub. Around 300 people attended the kiss-in event which was much publicised on facebook where mass co-ordinated kissing took place. People from all over London came to support a worthy cause. And this entire event was borne out of and created by using digital media. It's amazing to see how social media gives an active voice to people and help gain critical mass. It facilitates sustained collaboration around a shared idea, over a period of time, crossing borders. Social media networks cross technologies and have immediate impact that gives it urgency, makes it personal and allows for individual attention in a mass intervention.
This is a perfect example of activism going 2.0. What started as a simple tweet became a massive social event forcing a pub to close it’s doors and lose out on an evening’s worth of sales. Where activists were once defined by their causes, they are now defined by their tools. Facebook and twitter warriors go online to push for change.
These social media tools have always been used for relationship building, which is an intrinsic part of public relations. Most people have strong ties with a small group of friends, colleagues and family within their social networks. And these networks are a great tool for spreading the right message. Social media allows individuals to share experiences and social activism in a quick, and almost effortless way between their online social circle. As John Cass has rightly stated, "strong relationships can exist because of social media, and existing relationships can be stronger because of social media. And it is possible to activate and motivate a small community using social media."
I understand that social networks cannot solve all the problems in the world, nor can they be the only means to spread awareness but they definitely allows NGOs, activists and governments programs to harness our enthusiasm. They enable people from all over the world, come together, to support a cause they believe in. There have always been traditional forms of protest and social activism but digital media and social networks have definitely empowered more people to be a part of what they really believe in.
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If you think about it, it's impressive how many things you can do through social media. I really like the quote of John Cass that you have stated in your blog about social media and strong relationships.I agree with you in that social networks allow and connect people to support a cause and organise an event, like in the case of the gay couple and the kiss-ins that were scheduled in the pub. It is a great way of communication and very powerful as it seems.
ReplyDeleteI think this story is great example of how social media can be used in activism to gain mainstream media action through sucessfully organising a stunt.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do wonder how many failures there are compared to the sucesses as I am sure many people have posted a tweet or started a facebook group to no avail. So I feel there most be more to this than simply sending one tweet!