Is it possible to make change with the mere click of a mouse? Social media has forever changed the image of the socially conscious individual. The political uprisings this past spring in the Middle East and North Africa prove this to be true. If it were not for sites like Facebook and Twitter these revolutions would not have had the global awareness and impact that they did. The ability to connect through these tools has become an essential agent to making a difference in the world.

As a freshman in college you can at first feel very small (I know I did) and so very far away from what’s going on in the rest of the world, yet social media has filled this gap permanently. It is important to note that the most effective way of making a difference is by getting out there but for college students it’s easier said then done to just drop everything. This is why it’s important to educate oneself with world events documented via Facebook pages and tweets because it’s a step closer to being a worldly individual, also, in today’s world we are all so much more capable to be just that. Social media is in a way amateur journalism because the crises experienced around the world are related directly by the most legitimate source: the people who experience such events.
During the uprisings of Spring 2011 I realized this was the first time in my nineteen years I was conscious of revolution and also saw what it looked like. To be honest, revolution for most of my life equated to what I read in American history textbooks and The Beatles White Album. A perfect example of how interconnected the world is today is reflected in my own experience this past spring. I followed the protests in Iran via facebook pages like 25 Bahman, which aims to bring to light the plight of the Iranian people under the illegitimate rule of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The fact that an average NYC college student like me could experience this on what is meant to be a social networking site shows how social awareness has changed immensely. On this particular Facebook page videos uploaded by Iranian protesters documenting police brutality and updates of progress as well as setbacks. The majority of global outreach by way of social media involved the youth of such troubled nations like Egypt, Yemen, Iran, and Bahrain. College students essentially ran this youth revolution; social media was such an effective tool, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen were forced to resign from their Presidential posts. Internet can serve as a catalyst for change and that’s why it’s such an immense threat to foreign dictators. An example of this is China’s censorship of Google. President Obama and Hilary Clinton have both addressed that Internet usage should be encouraged globally and it’s an attack on individual rights to disallow Internet connection to the masses of a nation. The fact that not everyone is allowed  internet access makes it only more valuable and something to be greatly appreciated.

If foreign college students can oust Presidents by mass text (Honduras ex-President Manuel Zelaya), organize protests on facebook, and update the entire world better than CNN can by way of tweets, than NYC students are just as capable of making change for causes relevant to their lives. In high school I created a facebook event promoting a local protest of a hate crime that took place in my own Queens neighborhood. Facebook made it exceptionally easier for me to reach a great number of people to bring about awareness for LGBT acceptance. My first experience with activism was rooted in facebook messaging and its endpoint for me was handing out anti-hate fliers at a televised protest, which you can do too if you stop by the Advanced Copy Center. The first step to being socially conscious is to make yourself aware, so I suggest following foreign facebook pages, twitter accounts, and blogs to keep yourself up to date with world events. This is a good addition to reading both national and foreign news publications. There are also several websites out there informative about how you can help and where, even if it’s just by clicking a mouse. For example, www.change.org is a website that allows people to electronically sign petitions for free as an aid for social change. These petitions are for just about every cause imaginable, like the public support for Saudi women to drive. All it takes is just one click for a better world! Social media and the internet have infiltrated the realm of civic duty and that’s a good thing considering you’re reading this on the internet this very moment.

Anjelica LaFurno

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