SOCIAL MEDIA AND HASHTAG ACTIVISM: THE NEW TREND !

Today, life is moving fast and in this fast-moving life, we explode to more changes in lifestyle. Today the use of the internet is very frequent. The Internet helps everyone to connect with everyone around the world. There are many good uses of the Internet but as there are always two sides to the coin similarly Internet has its pro and cons. This time when social media matters more than real life. Social media has taught people to share their problems but also to show off their happiness which is only limited to social media. We are a generation that needs more likes on social media than in real life.

This concept of social media is in some way creating a distance between the real-life and the reel life. The people pretend to be someone else on social media the negative impact does not stop here these days social media also create mental problems for people because of a new trend called trolls. People hide their identity and write some comments which are not appreciated on a social platform. Since the constitution allows us all to share our thoughts freely but these liberties have their restrictions that need to be taken care of.

Let’s not only focus on the bad impacts of social media there are also some good uses of Social media like making people aware of the wrong happening around the world and appreciating good work done by people. This new concept of the hash tag is helping people to share problems and happiness with the world.

These days’ social media connect everyone directly to the politicians which creates an easy way to address your problem with the support of many people. The benefit of hash tag activism is very real. The Hash tag Raise awareness, build communities, give voice to everyone afraid to speak, educate more and more people.

This is the new way of getting public support from all over countries. The hash tag makes it easy to build huge public support with a public platform that is accessible by many. The growing trend of bringing socio-political changes with the help of social media in the real world is making it easy for people to raise their voices and share their experiences. This is a new concept but surely there are many agenda which have been successfully joined by people from all over the world. The hash tag activism helps to divert the attention of major population on issues like a human rights violation, abuse of any other right, fundraising, opposition against the government, and these days also to earn more and more votes.

There are a few campaigns that emerge to be successful because of major participation. This rise in social media has influenced communication and information of all kinds. People can be judged and appreciated on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Naming a few famous examples of campaigns in recent times are #Blacklivesmatter, #oscarsowhite, #Metoo, and many more.

The discussion cannot be ended without discussing the problems in hash tag activism. There can be many problems in social media but surely these problems can be avoided by being a little more aware of the problem. These problems can be easily avoided by awareness. The major disadvantage can be misinformation or disinformation. This problem is faced to a very large extent.

The information provided on social media cannot always be true; people must check facts before sharing anything on social media. This is the time when misuse of anything and everything is common so social media is no exception.

People use social media as weaponization for Trolls, Cyber hacks, or mobilization. The major concern these days on social media is the Privacy of the user. The private information which is given to the apps impacts the jobs/ visas and even relationship. There are different complaints, censorship, and platform that register such complaints and take care of these concerns.

The conclusion of this topic can be done by this sentence given by Mark Kersten which says “we must understand that in this age of persuasion social media is one of the tools available to social activists. But when social media is effectively employed in campaigns, it remains the activists, revolutionaries and dissidents who deserve the credit for challenging the status quo- and social media itself.”

There is no doubt that Hash tag activism gets involved in social justice issues but it can also be seen as the endpoint to social activism. These steps seek to change our culture for better; this will become a step in introducing potential activists.