Sociology Assignment: Digital Media, Social Movements, and Activism

This sociology assignment examines the impact of digital platforms on social movements and activism. The student agrees with Zeynep Tufekci's perspective, arguing that while digital tools are powerful, they have limitations and require additional effort for lasting impact. The assignment discusses the disadvantages of social media in activism, such as the dependence on likes and short-term effects, while also acknowledging the importance of mass media in legitimizing and mobilizing social movements, especially for those less renowned. The student highlights the significance of social movements protecting the rights of the poor and underserved, using the 'Mugabe Must Go' protest as a case study to illustrate the power of social media in creating awareness and mobilizing action. The assignment concludes by emphasizing the student's commitment to using social media tools to advocate for disadvantaged people.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Answer 1:
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 extra 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.
Answer 2
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 public’s perception regarding the
movement (Mattoni & Treré, 2014). Although long lived and properly institutionalized social

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movement do not rely on social media for their survival, however mass media is essential for
those social movement which are less renowned.
Answer 3:
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 Zimbabwe’s 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 atrocities done on poor
and disadvantaged people as they deserve same rights in society.

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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., & Treré, 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