One share two shares good shares bad shares BR #4

Social media may have been the best thing to ever happen to the world of advocacy and activism. Regardless of how I may bring forth the problem of inaction that is all so common these days, social media binds people together in such an instantaneous way that any other form of communication falls short. Being able to reach thousands of people with the click of a button has built a global imagined community unrivaled by any other form of communication. Any advocacy group, like Lovebot, can create pages on multiple platforms of social media including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in order to connect with the most people possible. Those persons interested in interacting with Lovebot have the option to do so on any social media interface, and they have pages and people posting about them on all four of the above mentioned websites as well as their own website featuring an interactive map and blog. Community building occurs when a number of people are brought together. Before the internet there was the restriction of location, but in modern times there is only the restriction of access, and with the introduction of internet cafes, that can hardly be considered a barrier. The imagined communities formed on the internet are the enablers of awareness which in turn allows the communication to mobilize, the ability to form reaction in favour of causes, and the collection of donations. Communities among the internet are interconnected through mutual friends and shared message boards, one good message can “go viral” in minutes, from one share to 10 shares to 100, in the web of connections. Youtube has a section for top views which crosses the boundaries set by Facebook through privacy friend groups. Instagram and Twitter are similar to this, where they have trending pages that are public and relatively unrestricted.

In addition to Instagram, Cosmopolitan website and the Onion both provide interactive media platforms that raise awareness about various causes and current movements. Now before you count out Cosmopolitan, yes it’s women's magazine that is not strictly focused on activism, but it has the ability to reach an extremely wide spread community. People that visit Cosmopolitan are not strictly looking to keep up to date on anything more than some good ab exercises or the newest cocktail, but this is precisely why this website is so effective. The people that visit this website do not regularly hear about activism and thus the website has the ability to reach a demographic not normally accessed. Especially due to their popularity, people may be more likely to take the time to read an article about the pro choice rallies in the US. 

Another website that is the Canadian Cancer society. I have a friend that I met on the Brock rugby team and in my first year playing with her I learned she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She has since raised a considerable amount of money and shown how dedicated she was to our team and worked through the pain associated with such a detrimental illness. She has recently started a fundraiser that raises money for cancer research. Her goal was $1000 and once she reached it she would shave her head (http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR/Thirdpartyevent/IFE_ON_CommunityPartnerships_?team_id=303178&pg=team&fr_id=15142#.UvES9VvYcaX). She has since

reached her goal and on Wednesday February 5th she will allow the highest bidder to shave her head. The Canadian Cancer society has allowed her a spot on their website to offer a secure donation system and the chance to gain funds from those just visiting the website and not directly associated with her. This website thus fundraises and enables her to spread awareness.

I have chosen to do my essay on the riots of Ukraine so I will use the #ukraine as the common hashtag is in Ukranian and none of my followers speak that language. The common hashtag is #євромайдан and roughly translates into ‘European Square’. This hashtag is used for members of the riots to communicate with one another and to spread word of certain activities occurring in the square. This hashtag is fulfilling community building, awareness, mobilization and action/ reaction. Other commonly used hashtags are #ukrainolution and #euromaiden. Twitter has mobilized celebrities from Ukraine to reach more people than would originally have been. Ukraine has not gotten nearly enough media coverage as people like Justin Beiber has consumed the media with insignificant news.