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Malcolm Gladwell Small Change

915 Words4 Pages

n today’s society the internet plays a huge role in the everyday lives of many people, therefore many individuals’ main form of communication is over sites like Facebook, and twitter. In Malcolm Gladwell’s essay, “Small Change, Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted,” he explores the different methods used by activists nowadays versus those used by the activists in the 1960s. Gladwell argues that social media is not an effective tool to initiate revolutionary movements or any change at all for that matter, based off its weak ties formed over different social networks. Gladwell illustrates multiple cases of protests and adds that without the assistance of social media, these protests were stronger, prearranged and based off deeper emotional ties. Throughout the article Gladwell continuously returns to the Civil rights movement and why it was effective. Gladwell illustrates his argument that social media is not an effective tool for change or revolution by giving examples from the present where social media has claimed to be helpful although it was not, and examples from the past where although social media did not yet exist activist were more successful. When presenting his argument, Gladwell’s diction and writing style allow his article to be so successful and convincing. He starts with a story, and then explains why the example supports his reasoning. This approach makes him seem extremely educated, reinforcing the strengths of his argument. Throughout his article, Gladwell also demonstrates numerous dependable qualities such as self-confidence, experience, and persuasiveness. …show more content…

Although social media can be powerful for voicing opinions and thoughts to a wide variety of people within minutes, it does not involve strong-tie connections and therefore results with less participates interested in the commitment and high risks necessary to catalyze a

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