Over the summer, I wrote a discussion post for a pop culture class that aligned my assigned reading with the comments from this picture. My husband and I follow Max Joseph, the one on the left. not as a fan of Catfish, the TV Show, but because he is personal friend. I am always amazed at the number of likes he receives for random pictures, but this post caught my attention. The hasthag #bringbackourgirls was a social media campaign in response to the kidnapping of Nigerian school girls. A Facebook page was created (here is a link) and celebrities posted pictures like this one on Instagram to raise awareness. But, was that all it did? Did the hashtag actually bring back the girls? Today is Day 233. I am in no way belittling the efforts of campaigns like this one. They do raise awareness! I would not have known about the kidnappings if I had not followed Max Joseph on Instagram, a MTV semi-celebrity who cared enough to post a picture with a socially driven hashtag. But, I must admit, I didn't do much else except Google what the hashtag was all about. As Harlow and Guo also found, "The tools are best for raising awareness and are less able to incite people to participate in offline activism" (Harlow and Guo, 2014, p. 11).
So how do movements like this one succeed? They achieve a goal because they create a " citizenry able and willing to communicate with digital tools across differences in a radically interconnected yet divided world" (Hull, 2010, p. 85). The hashtag is today's equivalent to a report on current events in school. Our children don't stand up in front of the class with the front page of the newspaper and give a report about things happening in their cities, country or the world. They are instantly connected to events and responding to everything!
Our students may not be dedicated to the movements they comment of "like" and that may be the extent of their participation (Harlow and Guo, 2014, p. 4). But, what activist achieve with social media campaigns is an informed public. A high school student who sees the #bringbackourgirls hashtag may not become involved in this movement, but may go to college and study global affairs (in some form) to make a difference in the future. Let's not forget, "our aim is to position youth to envision themselves as social actors with responsibilities toward others and the world" (Hull, 2010, p. 87).
Currently, my Facebook profile picture is of a cancer awareness wrist band because a friend is battling the disease for the second time. I know my Facebook picture won't cure her, but I do think it provides a sense of community. For her, she is able to really see that we care about her from near and far. The same is true for any movement that utilizes social media as a way of disseminating information about their cause: a community has been created of caring people. Isn't that what our students will need to battle the problems of the future? A way to create pockets of communities that care about what happens to each other? I believe an informed youth is more powerful and capable of change than the uninformed masses.
