Sociology for Zeynep Tufekci Statement - myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theSociology for Zeynep Tufekci Statement. Answer: Yes, I agree with Zeynep Tufekci statement that in embracing digital platforms for activism and politics, we are overlooking some of the benefits of doing things the hard way (Tufekci, 2017).I can say this because although digital technology is used very smartly today with great focus to catch attention of the target public, however its effect cannot last for long. Firstly, one of the disadvantages is that while posting news on social media, the probability of seeing the news is dependent on number of likes and previous interest in the site. Hence, for any new activist, it will be very difficult to just use digital tools to pass their message. They need to take additional efforts to catch the attention of the public too. Another disadvantage is that digital tools cannot help to bring long lasting effect. The fast pace results in short term sensation among public and the effect dies down with time. If any activist wants to continue movement for longer time, they need to do something e xtra within their group (Chen, Chan Lee, 2016). Hence, it can be said that digital media is a powerful tool for activist, however hard work is required for its success. This can be explained by the success of Facebook as digital tool. They always put extra efforts to add extra features to add functionality. They went one step ahead and created long lasting effect on public. For some social movement, gaining positive coverage is very important. Mass media plays a role in fulfilling all things necessary to cover the movement in an effective manner. Mass media plays a role in legitimizing the social movement and taking it to broader public. This helps to mobilize political support as well as strongly influence publics perception regarding the movement (Mattoni Trer, 2014). Although long lived and properly institutionalized social movement do not rely on social media for their survival, however mass media is essential for those social movement which are less renowned. For me, social movements to protect the rights of poor and underserved and those protesting against tyrant leader is important. This is because such movements empower the people who have suffered to speak and raise their voice to the world. One of the recent social movement that has caught my attention is the protest against the rule of Zimbabwes president, Robert Mugabe. In the month of August, the Mugabe Must Go protest was going on in Harare. The online activism for this movement was started by an unknown pastor in a pleading Facebook post. The power of the social media in creating an upsurge through social media sites grabbed my attentions. Within hours of Facebook post, the social media activism was ignited. In addition, the Facebook acted as a tool to mobilize the movement (McCorley, 2017).This movement was highly successful in creating the right awareness and igniting the right action from public. In future, I would also like to use social media tool to protest against any atr ocities done on poor and disadvantaged people as they deserve same rights in society. Reference Chen, H. T., Chan, M., Lee, F. L. (2016). Social media use and democratic engagement: a comparative study of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China.Chinese Journal of Communication,9(4), 348-366. Mattoni, A., Trer, E. (2014). Media practices, mediation processes, and mediatization in the study of social movements.Communication theory,24(3), 252-271. McCorley, C. (2017).Social media is emboldening young Zimbabweans to finally stand up to Mugabe.Quartz. Retrieved 23 November 2017, from https://qz.com/768868/social-media-is-emboldening-young-zimbabweans-to-finally-stand-up-to-mugabe/ Tufekci, Z. (2017).Online social change: easy to organize, hard to win.Ted.com. Retrieved 23 November 2017, from https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_how_the_internet_has_made_social_change_easy_to_organize_hard_to_win/transcript