Untitled

What stuck with me mostly is the idea that online and offline life aren’t separate. Trolling and harassment don’t just disappear when you close an app. They affect mental health, elections, public opinion, and sometimes even lead to real-world harm. At the same time, movements like #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo show that digital platforms can shift power and force conversations that might not have happened otherwise. There’s a constant tension. Social media creates visibility, especially for marginalized voices, but that visibility also brings risk. The same system that empowers people can destabilize them. That contradiction feels central to understanding where we are right now.

Tufekci talked about how social media platforms are structurally designed around engagement and ad revenue, which can push polarization and misinformation. This connects to our readings about political turbulence and how communities both benefit from and are vulnerable within these systems. The same tools that empower activism can also curate division.

Using Posters and when online using #BlackLivesMatter show how identity, activism, and media intersect. This week’s materials talks about how communities like Black Twitter create spaces for cultural conversation, accountability, and political mobilization. What starts as a post can and often does become a movement. Social media isn’t just communication.

This reflects on how #BlackLivesMatter evolved over the past decade and how social media helped transform it from a hashtag into a global movement. It fits with this week’s readings on activism in the social media age and shows how online spaces aren’t separate from “real life”... they actively shape political awareness, news coverage, and public accountability. #MCO335 #BlackLivesMatter