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Occupy Wall Street 2011
Protestors converged on Wall Street to express their anger over the misrepresentation of U.S. wealth held by a small minority. Physical encampments lasted for 2 months while protestors attempted to convey their demands to officials, gain a bigger following and spark action. Reportedly 100K different hashtags have been used across Twitter to discuss the movement, all linking back to the original #occupy hashtag used in 2011. -
Kony 2012
Invisible Children, a small non-profit from San Diego, created a YouTube video to shed light on a central African warlord who recruited children as soldiers. Five days after launching the video they had 120 million views and celebrity endorsements they never planned on. -
Black Lives Matter 2013
Protesting police brutality and systematic racism, Black Lives Matter began as a result of the acquittal of gunman George Zimmerman who shot an unarmed African-American teen, Treyvon Martin. The movement utilizes hashtag activism on Twitter, the creation and spreading of memes, and direct action including demonstrations across the United States, and now other countries. -
Refugees Welcome 2015
Spill over from conflict and wars in the Middle East reached beyond borders in 2015 as refugees fled from their home countries seeking refuge in nearby European cities. Many utilized smartphone technologies and apps to navigate the new territories and locate safe places to settle. People also used social media to warmly welcome refugees as well with #RefugeesWelcome, demanding that their governments open their borders and cities to support the travelers. -
Verificado 2018
A grass-roots effort to verify and debunk political news surrounding the 2018 Mexican presidential election. Verificado was founded as a cautious reaction to the 2016 U.S. presidential election of Donald Trump after news of Russian meddling broke world wide. Utilizing social media outlets, Verificado fact-checked posts and articles that circulated across FaceBook and WhatsApp in an attempt to educate Mexican voters and inform them about the reality of 'fake news'.
