Essay on article 'Small Change'

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The world is in the process of revolution. Social activism has been renovated due to the impacts of the new devices of social media. New tools such as twitter and facebook and others have made it much easier for the vulnerable and powerless individuals to team up, work together and raise their voices to demand for better services. During 2009, many people held demonstrations in Moldova to criticize against their communist government. The protest was termed the Twitter Revolution due to the actions in which protestors coordinated. After a few months, student demonstrations stormed Tehran. The government department adopted anomalous action of wanting twitter to ban the operation of its website. The state department considered twitter as a dangerous tool, which had heightened tension among the students. Without adopting twitter, Iranian citizens could not have empowered themselves or gained confidence to advocate for democracy and freedom (Gladwell 23). Nowadays, people use twitter, facebook and other social media tools to advocate for change. United States has managed to use such tools to counteract terrorism. Internet has become an important platform for conversation and interaction.
The structures of social media are developed across weak ties. Twitter is a platform that enables people follow individuals on social site. Moreover, facebook is a social tool that enables users to efficiently manage their friends and connect with individuals they are unable to meet. A user may have thousands of friends on facebook site. These tools are incredible phenomena. According to Gladwell, weak ties are not mere binds; there have strength bonding them (45). Friends on facebook and twitter are the source of important information and ideas. Internet enables users to exploit the strength of such distant interactions with extraordinary effectiveness. It is a traffic that disseminates innovation, promotes collaboration, links sellers and buyers, and connects individuals.
The strength of social media can be depicted by illustrating how Sameer Bhatia got help through his friends on facebook. Sameer wanted a bone-marrow transplant, though he was unable to get a match among his close friends and relatives (Gladwell, Malcolm 36). A business colleague sent emails describing Sameer’s need to at least 400 friends who resent the e-mails to their friends on twitter and facebook. YouTube videos were made to promote campaign for Sameer’s help. Finally, about 25,000 new individuals registered for the promotion of bone-marrow campaign. Sameer finally obtained a match. People may ask how the promotion influenced many individuals to sign up. Sameer reached many individuals who he never knew physically to help promote his campaign reach other individuals. Asking people to sign up was quite easy. Sameer got help because donating bone marrow was not a difficult issue. It did not entailed personal risk or financial burden. It was only a determination that only needed social acknowledgement.
Social networks are especially efficient in enhancing motivation and increasing participation. Facebook and twitter activism are effective because they motivate people to carry out activities that require real sacrifice. Without such motivation, people would be unable to make sacrifice. Activism of social media is different from traditional activism (for example, civil right movements). In civil right movements, a leader had the authority over the group. Individuals of the group had responsibilities to participate. In other words, civil right movement was hierarchically structured whereby the leader and group members had to coordinate the functioning of the movement. Social media are different because they are not hierarchically organized. Twitter, facebook and other social media tools are apparatus used for building networks (Gladwell 47). The networks of social media are not controlled or governed by a central authority. Decisions derived in social media are based on consensus. The ties which connect individuals to the affiliations are loose (weak).
Gladwell says that the structures of social media make networks largely adaptable and flexible in low-risk contexts (49). Wikipedia i...