From birth we are told that our ‘actions speak louder’ than our words, so what do our tweets, posts and online presences fall into?
The internet is a powerful source, not only does it allow for the freedom of any individual in the world to vent their thoughts onto its forums, but allows for discussion, revolutionary cooperation, mass involvement, fast mobilisation of a message and scalable openness to lead to the coordination of a physical presence. This is the medium for which we build our thoughts, values and attitudes upon.
The power that a single tweet can have over a group of individuals is honest terrifying, the fact that, suddenly, our world can be changed with a 140 character message is insane. It truly shows that connectivity between individuals with the medium of social media truly is a powerful source. This was the case for the #StopGamerGate movement created by Veerender Jubbal, a Sikh gamer on the 14th of October 2014 in relation to the #GamerGate movement and their followers.
#GamerGate was in relation to Zoe Quinn, who was claimed to have traded sex for a positive review of her video game, but it grew into a fight over how gamers are portrayed by the media. The hashtag ostensibly aimed at eliminating corruption from the world of video games journalism. It’s mainly known for the misogynistic, racist tropes that runs through it, and the string of women who’ve been targeted, harassed, and threatened. It was quite a counter-intuitive ‘revolution’ as adherents of GamerGate confirmed the attitudes and values which the media was said to convey.
#StopGamerGate was then made in retaliation to these attitudes stereotyping gamers, how gamers are portrayed in the media and the supposed ‘fall of the video game industry’. The #StopGamerGate was tweeted over 50,000 times in a single night, being a vital outlet for women in gaming to speak to the ongoing scourge of sexism and harassment.
“the internet is more important and disruptive than [its greatest advocates] have previously theorised”. ~Evgeny Morozov
Morozov makes a good point, the internet is disruptive yes, it can cause an uproar in an instant yes, confirm prejudices and opinions, yes. But can also be extremely bias and too unreliable of a source to gain any information from. So why as a medium is social media being used to set these attitudes and values into motion.
In the case of StopGamerGate, the origin was online, so the end would have to be also. The fact that individuals went online to vent their frustration in the first place is a perfect example of how the role of social media can assist in societies deep insecurities and thoughts.
“We have ample evidence that the social web not only brings critical awareness to issues of humanitarian and ecological importance, but also incites action around them.” ~Maria Popova
People are empowered by their own participation in social media and this is how political and social movements are started. Social media was created on the basis of having the freedom sharing, aggregating and creating whatever content the user desired. So, could these revolutions be the result of social media itself? Would these revolutions have occurred if social media was non existent?
krisesandchrosses 
Sweet meme and fantastic post. In response to your question, I don’t think these revolutions are the result of social media itself, as revolutions have been taking place since the beginning of time. Social media definitely increases the rate in which revolutions occur and it also increases the rate in which they grow. Social hasn’t started revolutions, it has enabled them. It has given people a platform to speak and reach a wider range of people from all around the globe. Here is a link that details the affects of social media on political movements that i think you will find interesting, https://gigaom.com/2015/01/28/how-social-media-affects-protest-movements-its-complicated/
LikeLike
Great meme that really relates to the topic! Revolutions have been happening before the internet and social media so I don’t think that they are all a result of social media itself. In the case of your example I think it plays a bigger part than say the revolution in Egypt as their political tensions were built up over many years. The way revolutions happen have definitely changed and I think this is the biggest factor. Here’s an article that give a different view that may interest you which discusses how social media weakens revolutions http://motherboard.vice.com/read/twitter-makes-it-easy-to-start-a-revolution-without-finishing-it
LikeLike
In regards to your final question, I believe that these revolutions would occur to some extent. But, obviously, would not gain anywhere as much exposure. What do you actually think to your final question? Your post is very comprehensive and loaded with insightful information. Fantastic memes too, may I say. I had never heard of Zoe Quinn before and I was surprised to learn that she is supposedly one of ‘America’s most hated people’.
LikeLike
The examples you used to highlight social media and its effect on campaigns to create change is awesome! In regards to the question you posed, I don’t believe the revolutions would have ceased to exist, however, I don’t think they would have been carried out in the same way or to the same extent. Social media is a brilliant platform that has allowed for major changes to be made around the world as well as grab the attention of a wider audience to spread awareness. However, the ability to spread your opinion so widely and for the ability of multiple people being able to make their contributions does and can cause bias and often lead to threats much like in the case of gamer gate. Monitoring of social media is the only way we can really tame all that can be said but then that would lead back into control which is what these campaigns on social media are trying to combat.
There is a lot of grey area that follows social media and it’s revolutions, although I think it is safe to say that a lot of it has added more help to the situation rather than take away from it.
LikeLike
Creative meme and well structured blog. Th example of the gamer gate hash tag worked perfectly with the topic of social media activism. I think the only function social media serves in relation to activism is one of informational sharing and creating a tool of viral awareness. It is solely up to the individual to take this new found information regarding a particular issue, to then act. For example, social media in activism is useless when the protest rally you created on Facebook only has 10% of the attendees actually show up in real life.
LikeLike
haha great meme!
Great insight into this week’s topic, and to answer the question you posed in the last paragraph, I believe social media isn’t necassarily the direct cause to revolutions, but it serves as a powerful platform for movements and ideas to come to fruition by spreading the word of it. So it plays an important part of a revolution, but it isn’t the direct cause.
LikeLike
Great post and amazing memes. Answering your last question, I believe that social media helps speed up the process of a revolution rather than cause it. If social media was not present a revolution will still take place but much slower. Just like how all the other revolutions has taken place in history. They had no social media platforms, yet they still manage to pull off their revolution. Interesting read!
LikeLike
#stopgamergate is a good example, I actually never heard it before but playing games all my life I can’t stand the hypocrisy that exists in the online gamer world. The current ratio of male to female gamers is practically at 50% (52 and 48 to be exact) so I never understand where this elitism comes from. No matter how good you are its always “you’re ok…for a girl” and then to make things worst there’s the added issue of harassment. Almost no male game reviewers get death threats or sexually objectified. I found this video of gamer statistics you might find interesting. One thing that surprised me in it is that there are more gamers over 50 then there are under 18. Just goes to show you can never make judgments about the typical gamer because you may just be surprised.
LikeLike
I like the question you posed at the end- Would this revolutions be possible without the affordances of social media? I think no. We have seen the power of social media firsthand in circumstances such as Gamer Gate as you have already highlighted with great and relevant examples. The significance of social media is that it facilitates an environment for open and free conversation, exposed to a variety of opinions- whether you happen to agree with them or not. The power of implementing social media in revolutionising current situations has been evident so often- as this article describes; http://publicadmin.usc.edu/resources/infographics/the-role-of-social-media-in-accelerating-a-revolution/
LikeLike
Effective example of how social media can be leveraged for unfavourable occurrences, however can be resolved through the good intentions of individuals who do not want to perpetuate exploitive behaviour. Interesting case study!
LikeLike
Great memes with related content! I believe that social lead to the coordination of a physical presence. Many people took to the street because they saw the messages from the internet. The more people spread out information, the more people reach the topic.
LikeLike