The Nature of Social Media Activism

Among the many images that populated Instagram and Snapchat stories this summer, the stark sight of the Amazon burning stands out, not only because of the devastating image but also because of the text that more often than not accompanied the photo, that is, some slight on popular newspapers and their failure to report on it.

The Amazon rainforest, home to 10 percent of the world’s biodiversity and the source of 20 percent of the world’s oxygen, has been burning for about a month, but social media users began posting about a week or two after the forest erupted into flames, which led established journalists and newspaper companies to publish articles on the issue. The nature of journalism has been changing: traditional black-and-white print has gone out of style, and people are increasingly depending on their apps or YouTube videos for news.

This isn’t to criticize the new age of information, for the digital age makes news more accessible to the masses. People, especially teenagers, are more informed about the current state of our world, whether it be politics, pop culture, or social justice.

Of course, as a result, people feel a sense of obligation to educate their followers on current events. In the case of the Amazon rainforest, this meant posting photos of the event, regardless of their accuracy, on Instagram and Twitter. Some of the images are indeed fake, taken from the earlier years of the forest burning. Though the situation in Brazil has blown up in 2019, the forest burns nearly every year. However, the fire this year is one of its worst, so much so that the state of the forest has forced the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, to declare a state of emergency.

From the posts, the Amazon fires would seem like an uncommon occurrence, but they aren’t. The danger has just increased dramatically and hence, people have rallied behind their hashtags and photos to “combat” this situation. People like Leonardo DiCaprio, Cristiano Ronaldo, and the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, have also posted images of the fire burning at some point other than 2019. Those images are nearly indistinguishable from more accurate ones, and this brings to light the dangers of social media and using it to define this new age of activism. While information can be spread quickly, there are some dangers concerning reliability and false information.

Photos and words have always been used to bring attention to crises—that’s why journalism exists as an industry. However, the difference between an Instagram caption and an article in the New York Times is how thoroughly the source has been checked for facts.

An article goes through many stages before it is published. This isn’t the case with social media. It’s much easier for people to fall susceptible to fake news while on social media than while reading any polarizing newspaper. And yet, people online may still feel like they’re receiving the whole story from one picture, post, or story. This may be due to the fact that humanity’s attention span in the last 15 years has decreased dramatically. Additionally, social media promotes “bite-sized” entertainment and is meant to be consumed on a superficial level.

The flipside, however, is that social media can prompt people to research more into a situation. This translates on a massive scale when you consider celebrities using their platform to bring awareness to dire issues. Emma Watson, for example, uses social media to promote her work for HeForShe and gender equality. Other examples include Ryan Murphy and his work supporting LGTBQ+ rights, and DiCaprio and his posts supporting environmental activism.

While celebrities are able to donate major campaigns and attend public events, the majority of activists cannot. Those who can’t afford to donate or don’t have the ability to travel get involved by participating in local protests and posting online.

On the other hand, there are people online who criticize others for posting about issues instead of instigating any “real” change. It is not uncommon for people to complain about how changing one’s profile picture won’t change the number of people who died in an event.

And to some degree, those people are right. There lacks any substantial evidence that posting on social media effects change. People participating in online activism don’t harm anyone with their participation, but they also don’t help with the state of the tragedy either. There is no ideal way to go about activism, that’s for sure. But there’s no problem with continuing to try and find one.