Race and the Digital: Racial Formation and 21st Century Technologies

Description of the Movement and Relative Context

 

#BernieSanders2016

A social movement is defined as: a group of organized people striving toward a common goal relating to human society or social change. I consider the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders a social movement, because it is organized by everyday people to encourage people to vote for a candidate that has the everyday American's issues on his mind, instead of favoring the 1%. Bernie Sanders is a candidate who wants social justice and equity for all, to not privilege some groups at the expense of others. Sanders wants to advance America and push the country towards a more just society.

Sanders and Social Media

Social media has played a crucial role in the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders. Sanders has experienced a media blackout- censorship on behalf of mass media, especially the news. I and many other people believe that Sanders is being blackballed because of his ideas and beliefs, which contradict the values of corporations and such that own these media stations. Sanders isn't the only one to be shunned from these major forms of communication, in fact, the 43 missing students, the revolutions in the Middle East, and other countries where issues are not considered newsworthy. As a result of his blackout, Sanders' campaign has remained strong through new media. 

The most popular platforms in which the Sanders movement is strong is on both Facebook and Twitter. On both of these platforms, people are able to create relevant hashtags. Hashtags are important to use during social movements because it creates a space for conversation to take place or even share thoughts on an issue. The Bernie Sanders presidential campaign has multiple hashtags in which they are used to share their message, create an awareness, and even bring forth important issues. 
Such Hashtags are...Although hashtags can be used on any social media site, something that is unique to Facebook is the capability of creating Facebook events in order to share rallies, phone banking, or any other relevant action point that allows for unification and activism. Facebook also allows for the creation of groups or pages that tend to keep people informed on how the movement is progressing.

Social media is actually a very genius idea when used as an activism tool. As the internet continues to grow and become a bigger part of our every day lives, it is no surprise that people use it to their advantage to further their agenda. Because the Bernie Sanders team decided to focus more on social media (since they are not censored there), they were able to reach a wider audience, such as the youth, and encourage them to go out and cast their vote.
 

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