How Facebook has been an Effective Tool for Social Movements

As was shown in the previous section, Facebook is both powerful and valuable, and therefore can greatly assist movements with achieving their goals (Navarro, Martínez-García, and Fernández, 2018). Some people discredit it as a viable source or channel of activism because of the fact that it is used by many solely as a social platform and also because it is incredibly simple and easy to use, and therefore does not require much sacrifice.

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Trottier and Fuchs (2014) would argue that impactful activism cannot be easy and that using social media “constitutes in many respects a veritable rupture in this trajectory”

(Trottier and Fuchs, 2014, p.67). However, its ease of use does not make its use slacktivism or ineffective, and it certainly does not discourage people from participating in traditional activism, in fact it does and has the potential to do the opposite. “By making political participation on social media appear impactful or easy, more people may be drawn into politics and encouraged by their experiences with political expression to participate the old-fashioned way” (Pingree, 2007, p.217). For some reason, society tends to discredit things that are easy or simple as worthless or without valuable; however, many times in both life and social movements, there is beauty and value in simplicity. Activism is hard enough as it is, and the availability of a tool like Facebook that makes activism easier does not lessen its value or its impact, it simply makes it easier to increase both the value and the impact of the movement.

Views of social media activism are changing within the field and the next step is simply to make new research and discoveries available and known to wider society including the government and powers that be. Through this, their views can also evolve with the research and they can have increased understanding of the social media tools, their potential, and their power; and therefore, utilize the platforms more effectively. Most research confirms Facebook is both effective and essential when it comes to politics and activism today (Van Dijk, 2012). So, as social media usage increases, its power to affect change has increased. Most politicians are still uncertain about Facebook’s ability to deliver results at the ballot box or facilitate genuine dialogue between themselves and the public, but they also recognize that social media is too important to ignore (Ross and Bürger, 2014). Additionally, they must at least think it is worth the effort because they continue to use it. In fact, it could be argued that people are actually aware of the power of social media activism and the use of tools like Facebook in activism in spite of what they might say about how they feel because actions speak louder than words and their actions include participation online.

The view of social media as something trivial or to be used casually also must be evolved.

The fact that it is used for socialization and casual entertainment is not a downfall but an asset because when more serious topics are introduced via the platform, people who use the platforms for personal reasons and are accustomed to using the tools on the platform will be more likely to participate than they would if the same topics or issues were

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introduced outside of social media. For example, if on the news they ask viewers to go online to a website and fill out a survey in 5 minutes for an important cause or reason, very few people would. Even less people would fill out the survey if they had to go to an in-person location and fill it out. However, if while people were browsing Facebook they saw the survey and saw that they were being asked to fill it out right there on the platform for a very important cause or reason, chances are that more people would be likely to comply. This likelihood of increased participation in non-social or more serious matters is supported by research particularly from a political perspective. Ross and Bürger (2014) say that “looking at social media from the public’s point of view, findings from studies of various election campaigns suggest that social media could provide an opportunity for people who are habitually less attracted to politics to get more involved” (Ross and Bürger, 2014, p.49). As a result, more people are not only learning more about politics but participating more as well. Facebook has been instrumental in this. According to the research, “Facebook, for example, is evaluated as very effective in reaching and engaging masses of interested individuals and groups by providing a space for high-quality political discussion” (Papa, 2017, p. 585). It provides a “space” that is engaging, fun, flexible, innovative, informative, and social; and these elements only make participation more appealing.

To conclude regarding the usage of Facebook as a communicative tool, there is a large quantity of empirical evidence which demonstrates that the implementation of online activism in conjunction with offline and traditional modes of activism has had an increasing impact and positive effects particularly on movement participants and within the fields of activism and politics. The positives, in fact, far outweigh the negatives.

Research also has shown that social media usage and participation in activism (both online and offline) are directly proportional meaning the more social media is used, the more participation there is in both online and offline activism (Valenzuela, 2013). The key therefore is simply to ensure that users are engaged and active in as many and the most effective ways possible.

Facebook is definitely effective in increasing engagement particularly amongst those who would not normally be engaged in the same matters offline. This is why, for the best results and maximum participation it is essential that social movements develop strategies to advance the goals of the movement both online and offline. The key is to ensure that

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both are taken seriously and to understand that both have their unique and respective parts to play.