Has social media impacted social justice or affected global political movements? It’s a valid question. Evidence suggests it has served as a catalyst for awareness, mobilization, and change. During the Arab Spring in 2011, platforms like Twitter and Facebook undoubtedly enabled activists to share real-time updates and amplify dissatisfaction with oppressive regimes. Bilingual users helped to bridge language barriers and facilitate global engagement with hashtags such as #Egypt and #Libya (Bruns et al., 1993). However, digging further into the use of such hashtags reveals that global participation was not particularly “active.” In fact, local uprisings may not have needed social media …

Among my favorite developer acronyms is GUI. It’s fun to say, short, easy to remember, and quickly references the thing a digital designer is most likely to be working on, the Graphical User Interface. Spelling it out takes a whole three syllables, so those in the industry lovingly pronounce it with two instead — gooey. Without getting into the nuances of website or interface design, the purpose of every decision is to make the interface intuitive. It should be easy to navigate and interact with. Since most screen devices now combine images and icons with text, the term isn’t as …

Carved into the theoretical Mount Rushmore of most horrifying humans would be Adolph Hitler, Osama bin Laden, Genghis Kahn, and… Joseph Kony? While the first three inductees are immortalized in history books, the last is an outlier. Kony was made famous by social media’s ability to go viral. In 2012, filmmaker Jason Russell created a documentary-style YouTube video highlighting the atrocities of the Ugandan guerilla group leader. In, Kony 2012, Russel attempts to raise awareness and, ultimately, get viewers to take political action. Within a week, the video was viewed over 112 million times. Since then, it has been deemed a landmark …

How Social Media Helps to Mobilize Movements A consequential role of the Legislative Branch is to check the power of the Executive Branch. So, when Congress allows a President to circumvent approved legislation, the foundational balance of power is fundamentally demolished. In other words, there’s never been a more important time in history to stand up for Democracy in America. With Constitutional freedoms in question almost daily, can social media activism help mobilize networks to fight for change? Activists are wise to leverage social media for one simple reason — it makes action easier. Not easy. Not simple. Just, easier. Importantly, activism …

How social media can help create positive change. Doom is synonymous with unavoidable ill fortune. As in, oh no, I didn’t start my homework until the last minute. I’m doomed. On social media, it’s called “doomscrolling” because, apparently, nothing good can be accomplished by compulsively scrolling through negative news or distressing content. Or can it?  We scroll to escape the present and, in doing so, often discover what’s trending. Activism doesn’t have time to wait until the 5 o’clock news. Social media provides real-time information on the issues of the day. It can supply all the inspiration needed to take action, oftentimes …