Reacting to politics

Joseph Kony

So, Kony 2012 kind of dominated social media last week.  My classmate Annie wrote an interesting blogpost about how Invisible Children's campaign, which seems to be a wholly good cause, actually resulted in controversy centering around the efficiency of the organization.

This controversy reminded me of another time that people were able to split on a seemingly positive situation: Bin Laden's assassination.

I learned of the news through Facebook (not my proudest moment, though not unique).  Immediately my newsfeed was bursting with two very different messages.

The first type of statuses that I saw were celebratory.  They said "Finally!" or "I hope he rots in hell!"

Then, there was the response to that.  There was a strong message coming from my Facebook friends that they "would not, under any circumstances, celebrate any man's death."

Osama Bin Laden

I got that.  I understood.  I am a person against the death penalty and it only seems obvious that we should never celebrate a person's death.  But was this a person?  This was Osama Bin Laden.

I called my Mom.  She told me to take a look and see which of my friends were saying which things.

All of my home friends were celebrating.
Most of my school friends were disgusted by the celebration.

As my mom pointed out, I am from the suburbs of NYC.  My 9/11 experience was notably different than that of my mostly New England friends.

I remember that day so clearly in mind.  I remember my classmates who sat, shaking, because they had a parent, or two, who worked in the World Trade Center.  I remember those same classmates being pulled out of school, gradually throughout the day, only to be given the worst news imaginable.  I remember going to my synagogue that night and praying as a community.  Praying for our temple member's family, who had just lost their husband and father.  Those coming weeks I was surrounded by grief.  Everyone was mourning someone.  Everyone was mourning everyone.  I was 12, confused, sad, and angry.

I can't pretend that I know what 9/11 was like for those not living in the NYC area.  But I can assume that it was not as tragic, if they did not feel the same relief when Bin Laden was killed.







So what does this have to do with Social Media?

Everything.

These events, as they occur, are being responded to over Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and more.

The evening of Bin Laden's death a record was set for the most tweets per second on Twitter.  That night averaged 3,440 tweets per second.  That is a lot of tweets.  A lot of people taking their time to voice their thoughts, or share the news, with their cyber followers.

Just like with Susan G. Komen, Bin Laden, and now, Kony, social media users are utilizing their networks to voice their opinion on a complex subject in a simple, short manner.

Personally, I think the more aware and informed people are, the better.  Awareness may cost money, but it leads to more money from more involvement.  Some people will become aware, spread the message and that stops.  But for some it goes further.


This is something that non-profit organizations should consider with their use of social media.  Non-profits with political or human/animal rights based agendas, such as Invisible Children, can present their issue as breaking news and watch as the people react.  Bin Laden was a governmental victory, and as such, the government benefitted from the groundswell.