with social power, comes social responsibility
The connotation of social media is different in 2021 than it was in 2008. It is not just Facebook or Twitter, or any company as such. Social media at it’s core is an online platform that enables user interaction and participation.
During the 2008 Obama campaign, an opinion group called “Please Get FISA Right” started growing on Obama’s campaign website after he changed his vote on FISA in the summer. This group soon became the largest group on the site with many of his supporters disagreeing with the vote. In a press release regarding this matter, Obama chose to stick with his vote regardless of the pushback, while acknowledging that they disagree with him.
However, a realization settled in soon after the press release. “People in that group realized that Obama had never shut them down” says Clay Shirky in his TED Talk about social media. The group was never silenced on this platform, which according to Shirky is one of the most innovative and mature uses of social media. The point of the site was simply to convene their supporters without controlling them.
The purpose of media in today’s world has shifted to an increasingly participatory culture with the onset of ‘Social’ media. Most of these communities are formed on social media platforms and allow for civic discourse at a scale that was never-before imagined. However, these platforms have immense power as to who gets to speak and who gets silenced. With this social power, comes social responsibility, something that the Obama campaign set a prime example for.
This power has been realized in many ways and an increasing number of conversations have sprung up around the topic. A lot has changed since 2008, and that too is an understatement. Flash forward to January 2021, when a group of organized rioters stormed the US Capitol building and temporarily halted the democratic process. This was an historic day in the nation’s history as well as in the world of social media.
Following the insurrection, reports about how social media allowed for such extremist groups to form and coordinate began surfacing. The NY Times reported how the Storming of Capitol Hill was Organized on Social Media. From convening campaign supporters to coordinating violent extremist groups, the social media landscape is a turbulent one.
The power that being a platform for communities and participation brings responsibility. The responsibility of social media platforms is a tough. It requires a lot of difficult conversations and discussions around free speech. The definition of a mature use of social media is changing both for the user as well as the platform.
