...Synthesis essay: why the revolution will not be tweeted Technology is being used all across the globe in everyday life. With the development of technology, the development of social media became very popular. In “Small Change: Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted”, Malcolm Gladwell stresses that “real” revolutions do not depend on social media to be resolved or started; however, small revolutions can depend on social media or networking. Although Dennis Baron is sending the same message in “Reforming Egypt in 140 Characters?” there is one point that Baron makes that differs from that of Gladwell’s; Baron actually believes that a game changing revolution can occur with the use of social media. Gladwell believes that in order for a revolution to be successful, it does not have to rely on social media networks. In the beginning of his writing, he discusses the sit-ins that occurred in the 1960s. After acknowledging how fast the word spread about the sit-ins, Gladwell mentions that it happened without the help of “e-mail, texting, Facebook, or Tweeting” (314). Social media was probably not thought of in the 1960s. One of the biggest revolutions, the Civil Rights Movement, was accomplished without the need of social media. Also, it is easier to get participation on a social networking site rather that participation for something that is confronting a disgraced practice. Gladwell claims that it is easier for a person to donate blood rather than to protest for a certain...
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...Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted The term “social media” refers to the wide range of Internet-based and mobile services that allow users to participate in online exchanges, contribute user-created content, or join online communities (Dewing). It has become common today to use applications such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to express and share your thoughts, opinions, and common interest. In Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, writer Malcolm Gladwell touches upon the issues of social media’s role in activism vs. the traditional way of becoming a true activist Many of us today use these social networks for its beneficial approach to attract users and acquaintances to support their cause or activism. In today’s social era, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and so on constantly surround us. For most individuals, these social applications have become our daily way of communication. These application are so internally imbedded within our lives we tend to believe that what goes through these social media are true and that we technically are involved and active on these events, causes, and activism. Utilizing the sources from Gladwell’s Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted allows the reader to be more persuaded to believing that social outlets do not help change a cause or revolution. Gladwell uses the events at Greensboro to confirm his belief of how a protest can manifest itself without the usage of social media. For example...
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...In "Strange Creatures," Susan Blackmore proposes the idea of "memes," which she tends to describe as imitation of others, and seemingly brands us as memes. However, through Malcolm Gladwell's "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted," we are able to interpret as to how exactly memes inspire people and what consequences they bring about. The phenomena of Strong-Ties and Weak-Ties give an apt understanding of memes and their consequences. Blackmore seeming goes against the idea that us humans can generate our own ideas. As she implies "Instead of thinking of our ideas as our own creations, and as working for us, we have to think of them as autonomous selfish memes, working only to get themselves copied"(Blackmore,37). That obviously...
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...NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES | SOCIAL MOVEMENT OF NETWORK AND SOCIAL MEDIA | Critical essay | SOYEON PARK 20122455 2012-12-05 | SOCIAL MOVEMENT OF NETWORK AND SOCIAL MEDIA Malcom Gladwell printed an article in The New Yorker, the article is entitled ‘Small Change : Why the revolution will not tweeted’. The article is giving criticism in principle about the social media disseminator’s ideas that social media such as facebook and tweeter will bring enormous changes on social activities and movements. His article provides us with amount of food for thought about what is behaviorism and social movement in the age of social media and what is relations between social media and social movements. Of course, there would be a sharp division of opinions between those who approve and disapprove. He argues that it is impossible to reform the society radically by social media such as tweeter and facebook based on weak ties. And he pointed out the limit of ordinary unimportance of weak ties. It means, in spite of extensivity and quantitative expansion of weak ties, it does not have materiality of solidarity showing in the 1960s’ a civil rights movement. And he’s opinion is that the connection of information is different with the solidarity of people. A movement, which goes along with human body, makes people blood boil and heat them up, unlike when they are absorbing information by using their brain cells. It is hard to banish the lingering and regret about that kind of...
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...relationships. Even though memes are passed on and on again through these ties, it is done through a different process in these ties between people. This is shown by connecting Malcolm Gladwell’s, author of Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, reading and Susan Blackmore’s, author of Strange Creatures, reading. Weak-ties influences how a meme is transferred by sending information to a more collective group rather than individually. “Our acquaintances-not our friends- are our greatest source of new ideas and information” (Gladwell 137). The word “acquaintances” in this quotation implies that it is better for someone to ask an acquaintance for help or information in order to get what they want. This quotation is an example of how information is easily passed on through people who barely know each other. A weak tie relationship such as acquaintances shows how memes are transferred. If looked even closer, if many people, online, give out information others would join in on the process and thus the cycle of ideas being passed onto others. Susan Blackmore the author of Strange Creatures wrote an essay describing these words called memes. Throughout Blackmore’s reading she tells the reader that the memes “use your behavior to get itself copied” (Blackmore 37). From the deduction of Gladwell’s quotation about acquaintances and weak tie relationships, we can get that Blackmore is trying to say that all one meme needs is to be...
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...me. But how the culture warns against it!” (248). The author is regretful for not maintaining the duel voices that she once had, while also showing how cultures warn against multiple voices because it weakens cultural allegiance. In other words, cultures look out for themselves and perpetuate the closed-minded viewpoints that many people in the world still have. Meanwhile, Gladwell mentions, “Donating bone marrow isn’t a trivial matter. But it doesn’t involve financial or personal risk; It doesn’t mean spending a summer being chased by armed men in pickup trucks. It doesn’t require that you confront socially entrenched norms and practices” (138). Closed-minded people are afraid to open discussion about socially entrenched norms, which is why the Civil Rights Movement was met with violent resistance from white traditionalists. In addition, leadership during the Civil Rights Movement was a “hierarchical” power structure, or one that featured a primary leader (Gladwell 139). This is important because the organizational structure was guided by African American leaders who were often lettered, or well educated. With this in mind, Gladwell references the extremely well planned out Montgomery Bus Boycott and...
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