Social Media and Social Entrepreneurship

I’m a social entrepreneurship major; this translated to nonprofit business for those unfamiliar with the title. My class is focused on making the world a better place to live in and providing support for those who lack it. A large part of our business  takes place in social media so that we may spread information as efficiently as possible.

                Our textbook is heavily against social entrepreneurship and explains that it is creating the idea that business is the only way to solve social issues. I agree that business won’t solve everything, but that society has to. In my opinion, I think he is missing the point of social entrepreneurship. We are taught to inspire people to take action to change our world. The problem with our society is that we don’t set our priorities which then bleeds into our political system which the society runs not business ( although that could be argued against now). For example, a recent movement that has taken over social media is the Me Too movement which inspires victims of rape and sexual assault to come forward and share their stories openly in confidence. On every platform of social media you can find the #MeToo. People are becoming more open with sharing their stories to empower others who have been through the same trauma. The hashtag is used to connect people across the world their stories and creates a community of comfort and transformation.  Our society thrives on  masses, once one person is bold enough to stand up for their rights others will follow suit. The movement isn’t about creating more funds for sexual awareness nonprofits, but bringing to light the significance sexual abuse has on our society and how prominent it is. The goal is protect others and make them aware that they are in control of their bodies.

Social media has become superior to almost every other form of advertisement. It is faster and can be spread across the globe with no hassle at all.  People can translate anything with the click of a few buttons. Almost all other forms of paper and cable news have become extinct. But, the downside of the rise of social media in our social movements in the credibility of sources. Anyone can misconstrue sources over the internet because words and photos can be falsified so easily with how they are presented. However, social media holds its position as not only the main source of advertisements for business but for individuals and the issues the care about. An example is social media  playing a factor to the protest side of movements. Physical protests are still extremely popular and I think social media endorses this. People like to post pictures of themselves at rally’s to publicly show that they care enough about an issue to go out and create a scene. Protests these days are definitely more peaceful than in the past, at least in the USA, but these protests still create tensions in the community. The LGBTQ community has been known to hold many physical protests for their rights because in most of the country they still face discrimination. I’m from Houston and I know that recently they have instituted a pride day parade downtown for the LGBTQ community for them to express themselves freely. Around this time, my social media blows up with people’s photos from the parade as well as their home made signs that speak of justice and the end of discrimination and attached to these photos there is the matching hashtag to go with it. Across the globe you can find these pride days that celebrate the freedom of love and social media connects them all. But, as the internet always does it create a way to bring this community down. The more people post about a movement the more people are going to negatively react to them. Social media open up opportunities for people to backlash movements without facing the consequences of face to face reactions. People can feel entitled online and while there is the freedom of speech, society does have a problem with people being jerks.  If society could learn to be respectful then I believe the internet would be a much safer place for people to express their thoughts and persuade others to believe in them as well.

Social media can make a movement flourish, but can also bring it down. With the whole world being able to react to a situation, more opinions emerge. Our world can use social media for good; to connect the world in harmony and to support others and that day has yet to come. Hopefully with the next generations people can use social media to raise awareness to help the people who are lost. Social entrepreneurship will pretty much always be necessary and because of this social media will continue to hold a large portion of how our world reacts to it’s surroundings.