The Power and Limits of Social Media in Social Movements

Social media allows for communication to span hundreds and thousands of miles including communication about important news and organizing protests. Facebook allowed for the otherwise news restricted populous of Egypt to not only report but respond to an Egyptian man being beaten to death by their police. Communication has always played an important role in organizing people for a cause and social media is no exception in being an important tool in this form of organization.
The medium of communication affects not only which issues get attention but how quick the response is to these issues. A modern example of the medium affecting attention is Facebook with its filter bubbles causing issues that mainly elicit a strong emotional response to get the most attention. The speed of response is not necessarily reliant on the medium of communication but the more easily accessible the medium, the more likely it is to accelerate the speed of an existing movement or relatable cause.
However, we must remember not to marvel too much at what these platforms allow us to do but maintain our attention on the issues they help become noticeable. An example of this unfortunate misplacement of attention is seen in June of 2009 when citizens of Iran risked their lives expressing opposition to their government over Twitter. The story became popular not in recognition of this bravery or outrage in support for change, but for the capability of Twitter to allow such voices to be heard. Important? Yes. Misplaced attention? Definitely.
Further criticism of how helpful social media is to political movements are contributed by Malcolm Gladwell. He argues that "strong ties" are the key to the success of a movement as opposed to the weak ties enabled by social media based on the analysis of past successful movements such as the civil rights movement. Clay Shirkley responded to this by stating that "The fact that barely committed actors cannot click their way to a better world does not mean that committed actors cannot use social media effectively." However, this view does not account for the media specificity caused by algorithms that run platforms like Facebook. Gladwell's position is correct to an extent but misses the fact that the general fight against oppressive states is not limited to the tactics of one movement.
Wael Ghonim summarized the main problems with social media after stating he was wrong about the sheer existence of the internet is all that is needed to organize society. He believes the main problems with social media to be: rumors confirming biases, echo chambers or filter bubbles, recognizing the humanity of other users, better coping with the speed of information to reach a deeper understanding, and stop favoring declaration over deliberation.