What are your thoughts about the use of social networking and media to allow people a voice for social change, and as a platform for social change?
First and foremost, this is not a political statement in anyway shape for form. This is simply a post about the power of Twitter.
Emma is a Parkland shooting survivor and is now a freshman at New College of Florida. Emma is a major voice in the anti gun violence movement. She spoke out immediately against gun violence after the Parkland shooting and her voice was instantly amplified through the use of social media, specifically, Twitter. As you can see above she has over 1.6 million followers, which means her voice is exponentially amplified with every tweet she sends out. Most of her tweets are retweeted hundreds of times which means her tweets are seen by her followers followers and so on. In addition to that she can retweet a person’s tweet and that tweet is immediately seen by her 1.6 million followers. So even if that person has 3 followers, it doesn’t matter, her 1.6 million followers see it. That’s exponential power of Twitter that flat out didn’t exist 10 years ago. Emma also has a web site https://marchforourlives.com/ that has even a larger platform than her Twitter account. This teenager has a voice that is recognized all over the world. Plus, he has merchandise. She has gone global in what feels like overnight. Again, this does not happen a decade ago.
Bottom line, is Twitter has the power to equalize all voices.
This Tweet by the father of a Parkland shooting victim is another illustration of the power of social media. 10 years ago, it would have taken much longer for this father to generate the powerful voice he is experiencing today. He’s been to the White House and all over the news. His voice is amplified by hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers. That’s what Twitter has the power to do, amply even the quietest of voices. This type of platform did not exist 10 years ago. It’s incredible.