FOA

Political Influence: #MeToo 8

Although social media protests typically call for social reform, the #MeToo movement had overlaps involving politics. Women involved in politics as candidates, elected officials, and even voters are physically and mentally harassed just for being female. During the #MeToo protest, 140 female leaders in California politics reported incidents of being sexually harassed or witnessing another woman being sexually harassed in the workplace. Several claims prompted by the #MeToo movement convicted government officials of sexual abuse, leading to the resignation of three senators so far including Al Franken and Trent Franks.

Thesis 3

As social media protests become more relevant, the differences between traditional forms of protest, such as the Dakota Access Pipeline Protest, and social media protests, such as the #MeToo Movement, become more prevalent. These differences allow for the analysis of the ways mass media and language are used to inform, persuade, and influence ideological and political goals.

Conclusion 12

Language and mass media are utilized for the purpose of informing, persuading, and influence political and ideological goals. Different forms of mass media allow for varying amounts of the population to be informed about the protest, therefore limiting the potential of the protest to persuade the opinions of the audiences. Traditional protest movements aim to influence political goals, while social media protests have greater influence on ideological goals, such as societal and cultural reform.

Ideological Influence: #MeToo 9

Protests involving social media typically influence cultural and societal ideology. The #MeToo movement exposes the true magnitude of the problems with sexual abuse in society, and the lengths many of those who are accused to go in order to protect their reputation. When wealthy and powerful men in Hollywood and government are accused, they use money and scare tactics to quiet their victims. The aspect of rape culture, which is defined as the normalization of sexual abuse in society, ignores and diminishes the victims, especially when women are taught not be to sexually assaulted rather than teaching men not to assault women. The #MeToo movement exposes the true nature of society's rape culture and influences change in society's approach to the victims.

Language: #MeToo 7

Social media allows users to utilize informal language and rhetoric while conveying a passionate tone through writing. The use of a hashtag in the #MeToo movement is a symbol which connects all the tweets regarding the protest, highlighting the way language is used in social media protests to bring people together. Many of the tweets involving #MeToo use poetic rhythm and charged words to convey the users passion on the subject. This style of writing can be seen in Najwa Zebian's tweet which reads: "#MeToo And I was blamed for it. I was told not to talk about it. I was told it wasn't that bad. I was told to get over it."

Introduction 1

Social media protests are initiated primarily through different platforms of social media. They are usually carried out with different conventions such as tweets, posts, and hashtags. Social Media Protests are able to obtain greater coverage, typically opposing and protesting wide-spread global concerns, rather than that of a specific government and/or society.

Introduction 2

The #MeToo Movement, started by Tarana Burke in 2007, took to social media as a result of Alyssa Milano's tweet in October 2017. It is said to be a response to sexual assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and encourages victims to speak out and share their experiences with sexual harassment. The protest rapidly spread to over 85 countries with 1.7 million tweets including the hashtag.

Audience: #MeToo Movement 5

These more recent movements on social media sites tend to focus on social and cultural issues, making society the main audience of these movements. The #MeToo protest targeted society as a whole, but sparked responses from women who are victims and men who have been accused. As a protest involving the widespread use of social media, the world and those with access to social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, found themselves the audience of this movement. It sparked responses from victims in over 85 countries and prompted other countries to start their own movement in their native language. As a response to the hashtag, many men who felt called out to act by this movement have started a new movement titled "#HowWillIChange" in order to show support for the women and further encourage reform within society.

Comparison of Traditional and Social Media Protest Movements 4

These traditional and social media protest movements which involve mass media can be compared by analyzing the intended audience, purpose, and language of the protest.

Open ended question 14

Which difference between traditional protest movements and social media protest movements do you think is the most important when defining how effective each form is?

Open ended question 13

Which form of protest in mass media (traditional or social media) do you believe is more effective in today's society?

Purpose: #MeToo movement 6

Social media sites allow for people around the world to connect, share personal information and stories, and receive news in just a short amount of time. Protests which use social media focus on connecting the world through sharing personal stories in response to some sort of news in order to work towards a common purpose, typically social reform. The #MeToo movement, which is a response to recent news of claims of sexual harassment in both the Hollywood industry and the government, influences social reform by creating a safe space for victims of sexual abuse to speak about their traumatic experiences. This movement focuses on changing how society responds to sexual abuse and encourages both men and women to speak up about and act upon these claims. Alyssa Milano's tweet which defines the purpose of the moment and calls victims to action reads: "If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote 'Me too.' as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem"

Persuade: #MeToo 11

Social media sites, such as Twitter, allow for users to "like" and "retweet" (share) what other people have been communicating on the site. By liking and sharing, one is agreeing to the original contributor's ideas increasing cooperation towards the joint movement. This persuades others to search into the movement, communicate the ideas and purpose of the protest, and become involved. The #MeToo movement, which primarily occurred on Twitter and Facebook, used the method of likes and sharing to persuade audiences to read into the movement's purpose and become involved. The movement also involves celebrities and claims against powerful people, buying the interest of social media users. This persuades users to pay attention to claims being made, victims to share their stories, and others to become involved in ending sexual assault.

Inform: #MeToo 10

Social media's ability to reach billions of people from various countries around the world makes this form of mass media an effective way to inform the population in masses. As of 2017, approximately 2.28 billion people, or 30% of the population, are on at least one social media site. The #MeToo movement informs this portion of the population on the magnitude of the issue of sexual violence against women around the world. By informing people around the world, the movement allowed the worldwide population to become involved in this movement, rather than observe from a distance.