Social Media and Revolt: what is its role?

Social Media is a very useful tool in order to promote causes, however, it's a week I do not allowed people to actually become activists.

Social media promotes weak ties that, while allowing the propagation of new ideas, do not move people to action in a manner that is reminiscent of past social change movements.

Close friends move you to action when it comes to "revolutions", and word of mouth is more powerful a tool when governments keep services, such as Twitter, blocked or limit access in a way that makes it dangerous to publicly go against the government.

Twitter and Facebook can and will be blocked by governments who feel that it threatens their power. And while it is not impossible to access these sites after they have been blocked, it is dangerous if you have been caught on them.

The Civil Rights movement in the United States was strengthened by the ties individuals had with one another. Having these friends with you while becoming political dissonance allows one to feel safer while fighting whatever oppressive force instilled the desire to fight back.

In my opinion, I feel that any successful movement must still have word of mouth in order to bring people to action but social media can be a tool that is used to rally these people,though it is not necessary.

Social media allows small movements that are easy to become a part of to propagate throughout sharing on these sites. But it is arguably a hollow action, as most social media movements simply involve speaking out against one thing or another while not necessarily doing anything productive about it.

Word of mouth has always been an essential tool to bring  people together. Our friends and kin are more likely to move us to action through our strong ties to them and our similar beliefs.

I think that social media can be used as a rallying point but, ultimately, a successful movement must also have a physical component to it and not simply a digital component because governments do not ready to what amounts to a lot of hot air being blown at them. They have to have someone jumping down their throats to make anything actually happen.