THE POWER OF THE HASHTAG
For years now, social media has influenced the lives of billions of people worldwide. Technology is evolving the way the people of the world communicate. Imagine how differently the events on the night of April 15, 1912 would have gone if the captain of the Titanic had a more accurate system of watch for icebergs and quicker communication with rescue crews. Thousands of lives may have been saved that night, with speedier communication to a rescue boat. Many events throughout history may have been avoided altogether if today’s technology had existed.
On January 15, 2009, one tweet reported the first news of the emergency landing of a plane on the Hudson River. Janis Krums probably never would have guessed that his TwitPic of the plane as he looked on from the ferry would get so much attention. Word travelled so fast that it only took the news team from MSNBC 34 minutes to get on sight and to interview Krums on live TV.
Not only has social media helped news casters everywhere, but it also has aided groups of all kinds to band together and make their movement. Plenty of groups have joined together via the internet, but one that shook the world was the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011. It began with a YouTube video by an anonymous hacker group. Within 24 hours of the September 16 protest at New York City’s financial district, about one in every 500 hashtags represented the #OWS movement. One month later, hundreds of Facebook pages were Occupy-related. The protesters hoped for social and economic equality and felt that there was corruption and greed in the government. This is goes to show how powerful one’s voice can be when given a forum to express their opinions.
Social media today has also helped raise funds for great causes. In 2011, after the March 11 tsunami in Japan, The Red Cross used a Facebook page to raise over $25,000 for relief efforts. Most recently, the most common videos showing up on the feed were of people pouring buckets of freezing water on themselves. When friends started tagging each other to “take the challenge,” people could not get enough. It all began when the friends of Pete Frates, who is living with the disease ALS, wanted to support him. Eventually, the second most popular hashtag of 2014 became #icebucketchallenge; #ALSicebucketchallenge took sixth most popular. This hashtag helped the ALS Association raise over $100 million for ALS research. Without this challenge, this noteworthy cause would not be anywhere close to where they need to be for fundraising and searching for the cure.
As hashtags and pictures can help others and connect people of the world, social media still has its negatives. Now more than ever it is easier to be “Catfished,” where a person uses a fake profile to pretend to be someone they are not in order to lure in someone they find attractive. Also, not all internet sources are trustworthy. According to studies, about 50% of people have heard breaking news via the internet that ended up to be untrue.
As social media continues to evolve, communication is improving and benefitting everyone. This quick access to people all over the world can be a tool to raise awareness for causes, to report news, and more. Although the future of social media is unknown, its positive impact will continue for years to come.
On January 15, 2009, one tweet reported the first news of the emergency landing of a plane on the Hudson River. Janis Krums probably never would have guessed that his TwitPic of the plane as he looked on from the ferry would get so much attention. Word travelled so fast that it only took the news team from MSNBC 34 minutes to get on sight and to interview Krums on live TV.
Not only has social media helped news casters everywhere, but it also has aided groups of all kinds to band together and make their movement. Plenty of groups have joined together via the internet, but one that shook the world was the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011. It began with a YouTube video by an anonymous hacker group. Within 24 hours of the September 16 protest at New York City’s financial district, about one in every 500 hashtags represented the #OWS movement. One month later, hundreds of Facebook pages were Occupy-related. The protesters hoped for social and economic equality and felt that there was corruption and greed in the government. This is goes to show how powerful one’s voice can be when given a forum to express their opinions.
Social media today has also helped raise funds for great causes. In 2011, after the March 11 tsunami in Japan, The Red Cross used a Facebook page to raise over $25,000 for relief efforts. Most recently, the most common videos showing up on the feed were of people pouring buckets of freezing water on themselves. When friends started tagging each other to “take the challenge,” people could not get enough. It all began when the friends of Pete Frates, who is living with the disease ALS, wanted to support him. Eventually, the second most popular hashtag of 2014 became #icebucketchallenge; #ALSicebucketchallenge took sixth most popular. This hashtag helped the ALS Association raise over $100 million for ALS research. Without this challenge, this noteworthy cause would not be anywhere close to where they need to be for fundraising and searching for the cure.
As hashtags and pictures can help others and connect people of the world, social media still has its negatives. Now more than ever it is easier to be “Catfished,” where a person uses a fake profile to pretend to be someone they are not in order to lure in someone they find attractive. Also, not all internet sources are trustworthy. According to studies, about 50% of people have heard breaking news via the internet that ended up to be untrue.
As social media continues to evolve, communication is improving and benefitting everyone. This quick access to people all over the world can be a tool to raise awareness for causes, to report news, and more. Although the future of social media is unknown, its positive impact will continue for years to come.