As I’ve been working on my call to action video, I have been noticing and paying extra attention to videos embedded in tweets on Twitter. Videos on my timeline automatically play but the sound does not automatically start – both aspects of which are more conducive to the casual Twitter user. I also noted that because of this, the way some videos chose to include the script of the video at the bottom in the form of subtitles was useful. I incorporated many of these techniques into making my video and tried to evaluate the ways in which these strategies were useful.
Many of the videos on my Twitter timeline have been features of politicians or important figures speaking directly to the audience. The videos often utilize the floating head technique, which involves the person being taped from the same angle usually just including the top half of their body. Most of the videos that played for longer than 20 seconds changed up the angles of the floating head to maintain the interest of the audience.
The value in the videos in that they provide a different form of media for users to receive information. It is beneficial to see an important figure speaking directly and in a more candid manner because they are better able to connect with the audience. The videos often end with a solid colored shot with text written encouraging or instructing watchers with the next steps the person wants them to follow through with.
Twitter users also utilized shorter 1-2 second videos that acted more like moving pictures. These are interesting and catch the attention of users but don’t necessarily try to advertise a call to action. Both longer and shorter clips usually include hashtags that give the reader a sense of the subject matter the video is about.
I realized the importance of the hashtag in relevance of activism today when I saw a lot of advertising for an #ActivismIRL panel. Cosmopolitan and Harness were teaming up with Twitter to host a panel in which activists would discuss how to turn hashtags into meaningful activism. Though I follow a wide and diverse range of accounts pertaining to reproductive rights, women’s health care, politics in America and women’s activism, the vast advertisement of this panel on different accounts showed how different people are making use of the same type of strategies and tactics.

Social media activism can be beneficial in that it widens and diversifies a support base. Everyone tweeting about an issue can be heard on the internet. Adding a trending hashtag or using key phrases in one’s tweet can help increase its visibility but being of a certain class, race or identity does not impede on your visibility the way we see it does in a physical in-person activist revolution.

A close look at Habermas and the Public Sphere can help untangle the implications of social media activism and the nature of its inclusivity. The reading delves into the idea of the public sphere as one where citizens come together as a community stripped of their business interests and free of coercion. A successful public sphere is one in which there is great access. A space that holds more diverse perspectives and voices, is a more successful public space.

Twitter is advertised as a public space in that its users can access tweets and read them whether or not they have an account. Creating an account and joining in on public discussion only requires internet access and an email address.

This notion of the public space and the value in social activism on Twitter is complicated by the idea that public spaces often exclude huge portions of the population. There are public spaces that are only accessible by some. At close examination one can see how Twitter is an example of this. Only those capable of accessing Twitter via the internet can participate the activism. Large communities of people are not represented on this public platform in the same way that Nancy Fraser’s critique of Habermas shows that the public sphere is inaccessible to many. Ironically, the excluded communities are often the ones being targeted by the social activism.

In the context of women’s access to healthcare, the issue pertains to huge sector of our world. The decisions being made affect everyone. Recently, the House just voted on the ACHA, which will seriously transform healthcare in America. It includes provisions of defunding Planned Parenthood and excludes coverage of pre-existing conditions. Many communities including low-income working people, senior citizens, disabled people will be significantly hurt by the bill.

So while the issue of access to healthcare in this political climate will affect user on Twitter, it will disproportionately affect many Americans who don’t have the means to be actively participating on Twitter and engaging in political discourse. Though we may initially consider Twitter to be a public space for conversation around this issue, it’s complicated by a close and critical reading of Habermas and the Public Space. Nancy Fraser’s critique of the reading helps us see how public spaces are often not universally accessible.