Soo Young Lee
CAS 283
Dr. Frank Stec
4/15/2016
#HashtagActivism #hashtivism
Throughout
the semester in this class, I have enjoyed most of the topics since I’m a very “CMC” person. Among all
those topics, “hashtag activism” or “hashtavism” was one of the most interesting. By the definition of
Wikipedia, Definition
of Hashtag Activism, “Hashtag activism
is a term coined by media outlets which refers to the use of Twitter's hashtags
for Internet activism.” Not only
Twitter, but also most of social networking services such as Facebook and
Instagram started to use “hashtags.(#)”
What
came up to my mind first but definitely not least was “Ice Bucket Challenge.” Ice Bucket
Challenge is basically one of the most influential hashtag activism.
In
this article, Ice
bucket challenge: More than just "hashtag activism"?, the author
suggests that ice bucket challenge was definitely more than just “hashtag activism,” because of the
popularity and participation. This campaign was started to get donations to
help patients who are struggling with Lou Gehrig’s disease. It was wide spread
all around the world. Even in Asia, it became a very significant
and charitable campaign. It’s basically nominating people to be doused with ice
water “for the sake of raising money for research into that specific disease or
else they will have to donate some money. Like the picture below, even Bill
Gates accepted the challenge saying that it’s better to participate. Many of
celebrities also participated in this challenge, which led other people to try
out the challenge by nominating them.
However, what I really think it’s
important is people’s honesty and responsibility. I was also nominated for this
challenge, but I could not participate because of my part-time job. Anyways, Hashtag
activism is such a powerful revolution that makes people easily be the part of
something and great way to stop wrong social issues. So we should keep up the
good work with good wills of this activism!
More helpful websites:
Images used:
