Ferguson reading

#Ferguson
Bonilla and Rosa's article "#Ferguson" discussed the use of hashtags as an online form of activism and how twitter was particularly suited for this new form of activism. During the Ferguson event and in the aftermath, hashtags provided a quick retrieval system for people who were looking for the most up to date information. In this case #Ferguson actually provided up to date news on ongoing events then even the news. In addition to helping to keep a wider audience up to date on the events, #Ferguson also served the significance of an utterance online and ultimately drew global attention to the events. Bonilla and Rosa felt that twitter was a better platform than other social media platforms such as facebook because twitter is a platform that is very immediate and thus in the moment. Activists who posted with #ferguson or #STL  almost felt as if they themselves were participating themselves. I thought this was a very interesting point. I personally do not use twitter so I do not know too much but it makes sense that twitter is a platform that gives people a more directly involved feeling that facebook. However, with the constant changes to social media facebook also has some new features that have created interesting new ways for people to participate in protests no matter their physical location. During the DAPL protest last fall, a rumor quickly spread that local police were using "check ins" on facebook in order to track DAPL protestors. In response, 1 million people on facebook "checked in" in order to confuse local police and also show support for the DAPL protest when they could not physically be there themselves.

Though some people believe that hashtag activism is not the same as "real" activisim, I think that the new possibilities that online platforms have created for activism are quite significant. In the case of the DAPL, protest though it would have been nice if 1 million people could have shown their support in person it is simply impossible to expect 1 million people to drop their lives and fly somewhere for a protest for many different reasons. Furthermore, online activism can also provide a platform through which activists contest different racial stereotypes without having to fear deadly violence that might occur were they to protest in person. Overall, I think that online activism is not necessarily equivalent to "real" activism, but that instead online platforms allow for the creation of new forms of activism that can also have significant impacts.