Will Social Media Benefit my Social Cause? When Joseph C.R. Licklider, Leonard Kleinrock, Paul Baran and Lawrence Roberts came up with the concept of the Internet in the 1960s, they definitely had no idea how much it would revolutionize the world. There is much to say about how much impact the use of the Internet and its online tools, such as social media, have had and will have on society and our culture in next few years. How much success social media has had in regards to activism and promoting social change is a continuing debate though; authors Gladwell (2010) and McCafferty (2011) claim that social media is not an ideal tool. On the other hand, Postmes and Brunsting (2002) and Starbird and Palen (2012) contend that social media enables mass communication effectively mobilizing …show more content…
Even more, the lower accountability and anonymity for users online promotes an increased participation in collective action from individuals who under traditional circumstances would not get involved. The impact of social media’s reach is also evident when observing how information was diffused during the Arab Spring. During the 2011 Egyptian uprising Starbird and Palen (2012) observed how Twitter was used to benefit the revolution through its global information diffusion, allowing people around the world to be engaged in the revolution through tweets coming live directly from the streets of Cairo. Social media’s ability to diffuse information on a large scale promotes interactivity and cooperation between individuals across the world. Additionally, Starbird and Palen (2012) agreed that Twitter was beneficial to the revolution not only through informing the public of what was going on but through retweets from around the world demonstrating solidarity from the people on the outside. Social