Summary of "Small Change: Why The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted"

Malcolm Gladwell analyzed how activism on social media is not nearly as effective as high-risk activism like actually participating in walk-ins in "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted." It was interesting to see how he compared past protests to the current Twitter "Revolutions." Before reading this article I also thought about how Twitter and other Social Media is great at spreading and raising awareness to issues there often isn't much done about the issue because people aren't as invested in it. If someone physically goes to participate in a protest they are talking with other people and making connections that build a protest. Gladwell discussed how thousands of people supported 4 black college students in 1960 when they weren't served at a restaurant because of their race. People did sit-ins and they spread all over the country. People were arrested, but it was apart of the civil-rights movement that helped change the country. The participants put themselves at risk in order to make a statement and that made other people want to change. If that were to happen on social media, I feel like people would be impressed and want to help, but not motivated. The fact that there was a risk and they did it anyway and that others followed was extremely powerful.

There was also talk about the Twitter Revolution in Iran and how it actually didn't do as much as people thought it did. Many things that people saw were in English so it seemed like more people were commenting on the issue from afar instead of the people it affected banding together. Social media definitely has limits with activism and is not nearly as effective at causing a drastic shift, but it did help to raise awareness of some of the issues in Iran. Gladwell wrote about how change and activism is based within the strong ties of the people and their willingness to take risks. But unfortunately social media is based on weak ties between people because they are often superficial ties. There isn't as much of that emotional and physical connection between people. Talking to people online about an issue does not create as much of an impact as hearing about it first hand from someone. Also social media activism is inherently low risk because the words aren't coming from your mouth they're coming from your profile. It isn't as authentic and not as many people would be affected by it.

There are definitely many issues that have been helped by social media activism, but I agree with Malcolm Gladwell that drastic change won't be accomplished on the internet. I think this could possibly change but social media activism isn't as strong and united. Even with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, there were many people that participated and said they supported the cause, but how many actually donated and still are concerned about the issue. All that really mattered was the superficial social media response and now it has largely gone away. It is unfortunate that it doesn't always work, but people can still enact change if they can create those strong ties and take a risk.