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Egyptian Revolution
The younger individuals in Egypt took to social media to form protests, share stories and videos of oppression, and communicate with one another against their authoritarian leader Mubarak. Ultimately this revolution led to the end of Mubarak's reign. -
Black Lives Matter Movement
Following the murder of Trayvon Martin (an unarmed African American teenager) people took to social media, specifically Twitter to start the hashtag BlackLivesMatter. These social media pages and Tweets were used to gather people for marches, protests, and to share experiences/stories. This movement still continues today, and has branched out to more than just Twitter as it's main form of communication. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-14/black-lives-matter-timeline/7585856 -
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
While this isn't necessary a conflict, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge sparked a movement to raise awareness for Lou Gherig's Disease. Celebrities and citizens alike took to Facebook and Twitter dumping buckets of ice on themselves and challenging their friends to do the same. Since the movement began in 2014 the ALS Fundraiser has raised over $15 million for research. https://buffer.com/resources/social-media-history -
#LoveWins Movement
A historic court ruling led to a Twitter revolution over 10 million tweets using the #lovewins celebrated the Supreme Court ruling to legalize same-sex marriage. Stories, pictures, and support flooded Twitter and exploded the social media scene. http://www.northeastern.edu/rugglesmedia/2016/10/09/breaking-the-internet-lovewins/ -
Take a Knee
September 1, 2017 the San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Colin Kapernick knelt down during the National Anthem in protest for people who are oppressed. The #Takeaknee quickly spread throughout the National Football League and across social media. People were sharing their opinions and thoughts mostly on Twitter and Instagram. This really heated up when Nike released their controversial ad featuring Kapernick in 2018. -
#MeToo
October 17, 2017 Rowan Farrow broke the story on Harvey Weinstein story. Using the #MeToo movement people of all sexual-orientations shared their stories about sexual assault and rape on social media. Nearly every social networking platform caught wind and stories were being shared every second. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook led the charge. The hashtag became the title of the movement, and it still charges forward today with as much power as it did when it first began.
