I spend a lot of time thinking about the negative impacts that social media can have on us. I am conscious of how much time I spend of these websites and try to be aware of what I am consuming as much as possible. Although it may seem like I am opposed to social media it is a technology that is an inescapable part of our culture today, so I believe we must be able to reach a balance between mindless consumption or brain rotting and total abstinence from these apps.
There is a large group of people who use social media to share their political beliefs and the things they find important in the name of spreading awareness, but what do these posts do when they don’t translate into real world action and people in places of power can easily avoid or ignore the spreading messages in the sea of other posted content? I’d like to highlight an example of what I believe to be a great use case for social media.
In June of 2020, a group of k-pop fans used platforms like Instagram, TikTok and X to organise and disrupt Donald Trumps re-election campaign. They claimed hundreds of tickets to Trumps Oklahoma rally when they had no intention of attending, inflating expectations for the turn out. They also used their collective efforts to raise $1000000 in funds for movements such as Black Lives Matter—and over 35000 meals for another London charity. K-pop fans have made themselves known for spamming hashtags that oppose important movements like BLM with #AllLivesMatter, #BlueLivesMatter and #WhiteLivesMatter—ultimately making hateful posts harder to find and weakening the original message.