I definitely believe that social media has the potential to bring about real change in society. There are so many different things that it has allowed us to do. Social media allows us to get in touch with people that are all over the world. An incredible example of this comes from the disaster that just occurred last week in Japan. A female student is studying at an university in California and was very worried about her family back in Japan, she had no way to get a hold of anyone. She later found out that there was a video posted on Youtube that showed her sister on the balcony in her family home with a sign saying "we are all ok." http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/15/california.student.japan/index.html?hpt=C1#
Another great example of social media contributing to a big change in society also relates to the disaster in Japan. Lady Gaga is known across the world and many people are ridiculously huge fans so they will go to great lengths to follow what she does, regarding the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Lady Gaga created a Japan bracelet where the $5 will go towards relief. In just under 48 hours, $250 000 had already been raised for Japan. That is incredible, and all just because of someone's social media influence. http://blog.muchmusic.com/monsters-raise-250k-for-japan/
These two examples are of course the good side to social change. A few examples of social media having bad influences include decrease in personal face-to-face contact. You hear about people in offices and how they no longer get up from their desks anymore to deliver a message, all you have to do now is send it through an e-mail or other social media source because it is so much quicker.
My sister is 17 years old and she does not even like to call people, she would just choose to Facebook them or text.
Of course the question was not the negative and positive aspects of social media and real change, it was whether there was the potential to bring about real social change. And I believe that including the positive and negative aspects, it has brought about real social change.
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