Social Media and Protests

WARNING TAG: A post addressing social media and its use during the protests of the tragic death of George Floyd.

Since the horrific tragedy of the death of  George Floyd, the power and potent uses of social media tools have been on display for all to see.

At its foundation, social media informs.  The video of random bystander Darnella Frazier, who videotaped the infamous police brutality that led to Floyd's death, was posted on Facebook with 52,000 views, then hit Twitter, and the rest is history.  In this Wall Street Journal article about how social media has become a narrative battleground, as much as the physical battlegrounds in the streets all over the world, it explains the instantaneous ability of social media to "nationalize local issues".  No longer does anyone wait for the news crews to arrive to shape the story.  The story is instantly available for viewing, amplification and shaping by social media users.

Twitter, Facebook and Instragram have been effective in galvanizing action.  An example is Katya Grossman, a chronically ill college student who is an avid K-pop fan of South Korean male pop bands.  Her Twitter fan account of boy band BTS has 3000 followers.  From her bed, she posted a GoFundMe challenge to her fans with a modest goal of $1,000 to fund the Women of Political Change group in Minnesota following George Floyd's death.  "You buy 7 copies of the same album and say you're poor.  You can donate a dollar!" she exclaimed.   Currently, she's raised $187,000 for the cause.  

During the recent BLM protests, the same WSJ articles notes how protesters use Twitter to instantly direct other protesters about area the police are advancing on, and which places to avoid, or to move on.  Conversely, the local police are monitoring activist Twitter accounts to monitor such info, and respond.  

Similarly, the social media giants are making attempts to verify information on their sites. Argumentative, misleading or inaccurate information has been posted from both camps (pro-BLM and pro-police), and ferreting the truth is an ongoing effort done by people and algorithms.  "There is a fight on social media on how to portray the events on the ground," noted Nathaniel Persily, Stanford University Law professor.  Twitter began posting warning messages to some President Trump's tweets and fact-checking labels on others, such as his tweet that when the "looting starts, the shooting starts" which they said glorified violence.  Conversely, to demonstrate equality in monitoring of posts on both sides of the issues, Twitter slapped a "manipulated media" banner on posts of Minnesota cop Derek Chauvin who kneeled on George Floyd showing Chauvin wearing a MAGA hat, and took viewers to the original posts showing they were fake posts taken from images of posts from other people.

The social media platforms themselves have stepped up.  In a SocialMediaToday article, it noted Twitter publicized support for the #BLM efforts and donated $3M to KnowYourRights camp.  LinkedIn began offering several of its courses on diversity and inclusion for free.  YouTube pledges $1M for #BLM social causes as well.

The most important thing now that social media is doing is advocating.   Advocating for defunding police departments, changing laws to outlaw choke holds, mandating police de-escalation training, and much more.  On Instangram, I've gotten script to read as you call your congressman or senator advocating these things.  I've gotten lists of books to read.  Ways to help.

For me, I am embracing the fact that social media is spearheading the efforts of courageous men and women nationwide to end police brutality and misconduct, and to advocate all the changes that need to be made to ensure fairness, equality for all, and respect, acceptance and love to all our brothers and sisters, because Black Lives Matter.