How Is Social Media Affecting Social Movements?

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How is social media affecting social movements? Social Media is becoming a global phenomenon. With Facebook housing over 845million users and Twitter having 140million users worldwide (Stone, 2012) it is possible that social media is bringing social change to the world. These social media platforms have caused global affects for example the recent KONY2012 campaign which continues to circulate through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, has dominated the views of millions of people over a short period of time. Since March 5th the video produced by San Diego non-profit Invisible Children has been shared and viewed by more than 100million people worldwide. It has become so renowned so quickly because of the platforms it used to advertise itself. The KONY 2012 campaign is directed at youths, those that viewed the video felt connected to the invisible children. With the large amount of teenagers that have access to a smart phone the video circulated dramatically and within a few days it had 50million views on YouTube. However it gained this large amount of attraction due to the way it spread. As Henry Jenkins states “...transmedia storytelling, each medium does what it does best...” (Jenkins, 2003) Essentially it is the technique of telling a story across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies, referred to as ICT’s (Information Communication Technologies). Social movements such as the recent KONY2012 campaign are utilising these ICT’s and are likely to reach a new level in the way they ‘mobilize, build coalitions, inform, lobby, communicate and campaign’ (Donk, Loader, Nixon and Rucht, 2004) Moreover the transmedia storytelling has enabled the video campaign to become accessible to many different people on many different platforms. Twitter’s role in the KONY2012 campaign was the major source where people got the information

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