Social Media and Social Organizing: From Pandemic to Protests.

Abstract

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social NetworkingVol. 23, No. 9 PerspectiveFree AccessSocial Media and Social Organizing: From Pandemic to ProtestsBrenda K. WiederholdBrenda K. WiederholdBrenda K. Wiederhold, Editor-in-ChiefInteractive Media Institute, Virtual Reality Medical Center, La Jolla, California, USA.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:8 Sep 2020https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2020.0461AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail In these challenging times, it has become increasingly difficult not to lose oneself in the swirl of information emanating from social media sites. We can lose hours, or longer, to combing through posts for what we need to know, what we want to know, and what we probably could do without knowing. And yet, it is hard to turn away from the wealth of information, and from the potential benefit that information can provide.Demonstrating to call attention to political issues is not a novel phenomenon. Political protests have been occurring since governments formed. However, the relatively recent addition of social media has brought protest to the people in new ways. Social media has made creating and growing a movement faster, more organized, and eminently more quantifiable than ever before. It is a catalyst for communication on a large scale, facilitating community organization and creation of political movements.A 2018 PEW survey found that a majority of Americans believe that social networking sites are very or somewhat important for accomplishing a range of political goals, such as getting politicians to pay attention to issues and creating sustained movements for social change.1 In fact, approximately half of Americans had engaged in some form of political or socially minded activity on social media in 2017.1One reason social media has played such a strong role in recent demonstrations is that usership of these sites has dramatically spiked due to the coronavirus pandemic, extending social media's reach worldwide. Both Twitter and Facebook saw their activity grow exponentially as the virus (and shelter at home orders) spread, mostly due to people trying to remain connected to friends and loved ones during social distancing.2 Studies on past political movements have shown that access to digital technology reduces “information asymmetry”a and also improves collective action among protestors.3 Because social media usage has been up recently, more people watched and gathered information firsthand as the movement gained momentum.In addition, these social media users, as a whole, have more media fluency—the ability to navigate the sites and interpret the load of information—and experience utilizing it than those who participated in previous movements. Many current social media users know how to do things such as leverage hashtags and use Google Docs to edit and share data with ease.4 This digital literacy has enabled people to capitalize on the aspects of social media sites that lend themselves to mass communication and organization.The efficiency of social media is also key to organizing movements. Information spreads quickly on these sites, if slightly unpredictably. This viral behavior means that communication among a large and geographically distant population can happen more quickly and more efficiently than ever before. Social media has played a critical role in galvanizing protesters around the quickly shared video clips.2 It has allowed people to witness incidents that might not have otherwise garnered attention.Of course, this rapid information spread can be as much a liability as a benefit. Part of what makes something go viral is that it is available to the public. So, although a piece of information going viral can facilitate organization of a demonstration, it also informs those on the other side. Moreover, rapid spread of information can lead to misinformation, which can, in turn, amplify tensions in already tense situations. Although social media companies have begun to put into place stop gaps to prevent this from happening, these measures are hardly perfected.In light of this, it is tempting to turn away from this overwhelming amount of data, but it is important not to lose sight of the good that can also come from this wealth of information. We are just now beginning to understand how social media affects political participation such as voting and demonstrating.5 Study of social media sites is increasing, and metadata on current and past movements will allow researchers to access and critically assess the vast amount of information contained therein.5Notea. Information asymmetry occurs when one person has more—or better—information than the other party, leading to an imbalance of power.