First Blog Post: Ideas and Goal Statement
This blog will cover my foray into social media activism through Twitter, WordPress, and other platforms. The 2016 presidential election exhibited the influence that social media can have on influencing public opinion. Additionally, the 2016 election also catalyzed the rise of alternative media sources disseminating user generated content. These two developments gave unprecedented agency to voters. The internet gave consumers a plethora of options to consume information and express their opinions. Thus, producers of content had access to an unprecedented audience and sphere of influence that could extend well past their initial viewers.
This proliferation has unsurprisingly weakened the monopoly of main stream media sources on public opinion. In Lev Manovich’s analysis of Internet phenomena, he notes how the economics of media has changed. He points to research on long tail phenomena that demonstrated in many industries the collective revenue amassed from unpopular items exceeds the collective revenue of the top 40 items. Although Manovich’s analysis was published nearly a decade ago, his insight has been validated by current trends. The share of total news consumption from alternative media has risen. Furthermore, trust in the mainstream media has diminished, with 65% of voters polled believing that the mainstream media pushes a lot of “fake news”. This mistrust was exhibited across the political spectrum, with 80% of Republicans, 60% of Independents, and 53% of Democrats expressing this idea. Nevertheless, only 38% of Americans “often” get news online while 57% of Americans “often” get news from TV networks, which are mostly comprised of mainstream outlets such as Fox News and CNN.
Which brings me to the origins and aims of my WordPress. I based the title off the universally recognized truism that with great power comes great responsibility. Web 2.0 has granted individuals great power and with that power comes responsibility as well. Through social media I will encourage those in my sphere of influence to take advantage of Web 2.0 and expose themselves to a variety of opinions and ideas. My outreach will specifically focus on the issue of American militarism which the mainstream media almost uniformly promotes. For example, the only action of Trump’s to receive universal praise from mainstream outlets was his strike on Syria’s Assad after an alleged chemical attack. The alarming militarism under Trump is reminiscent of the 2nd Bush administration, with Iran, North Korea, and Russia forming the new “Axis of Evil”. Foreign policy is an extremely complicated issue and mainstream media outlets either celebrate or ignore America’s interventions. Most Americans have an entrenched perspective on foreign policy in line with the mainstream media, which is why I think online activism on this issue is very important.
I have only taken basic steps in my activism so far. I created a twitter account following prominent politicians, mainstream media outlets, and alternative media outlets. I then enlisted two of my friends to follow me and also follow the alternative media outlets I followed to broaden their perspective.