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Geoffrey Liskoff
Professor Padgett
English 102
March 14, 2017
Discovering whether social media influences actions:
An Annotated Bibliography
Inquiry: Does social media usage have an influence on the immediate actions people
take?
Proposed Thesis: I have looked into whether or not social media has an immediate effect
on the actions the people take. Through the information I found about this, I now believe
that the spread of word through social media influences peoples actions and influences
their belief.
Intro: Many articles, including some of the ones listed below tell us of how information
is spread faster than ever through the use of social media. Through the analyze of these
articles, we can see that there is a correlation between the spread of news and interests on
social media and the acts that are displayed nation or even world wide soon after.
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Peng, Natalie, and Debbie Pei Chin Goh. "Are we all here for the same purpose? Social
media and individualized collective action ."
Http://www.emeraldinsight.com.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/OIR-10-
2015-0337. Online Information Review, 2016. Web.
In this article Natalie Pang and Debbie Pei Chin Goh discus the way social media
may affect how people here about protests and can possibly lead to an increase in
protesting. They point out in the article a study they conducted during a protest against
over population in Singapore. After surveying 220 individuals who participated in this
protest, the authors noted that, Findings indicate that seeking protest-related information
on social media is positively associated with the likelihood of participation, whereas
using traditional media for information seeking is associated with a low likelihood of
attending. (549). The articles goes on to tell of how they choose the participants and
came up to the conclusion they did based of the research conducted, with as little bias as
possible. This article will allow me to argue a the side that there is a correlation between
social media and actions through the study that the authors conducted.
Bonilla, Yarimar, and Jonathon Rosa. "#Ferguson." American Ethnologists, 2015. Web.
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/store/10.1111/amet.12112/asset/
amet12112.pdf?
v=1&t=iznes9cw&s=1032ef6a51542baa85307b9480438365de3a3929>.
In todays society there are a number of different ways to learn about what is
happening around the world. One of the most used news sources and places to find
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information has become social media, which leaves us to learn of information from users
who are sometimes biased and just going along with the latest hash tags. This article tells
us how, Social movements have long used media and technology to disseminate,
escalate, and enlarge the scope of their struggles (7), which means social media does
exactly what it was designed for as it allows people to expand on topics that are for
debate from anywhere and whenever they please. The article goes on to explain a
number of important instances in which social media played a part in the actions people
would take. One of the most important being the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson
Missouri, as this led to protests we could see the use of twitter allowing more and more
people to tag in as, You could read what protestors were tweeting, what journalists were
reporting, what the police was announcing, and how observers and analysts in- terpreted
the unfolding events (7). This article will allow me to argue the point that once
something happens, and is ultimately posted on a social media network, we can see a
number of people join in on the argument or discussion of that said topic.
Thomas Poell, Rasha Abdulla, Bernhard Rieder, Robbert Woltering & Liesbeth Zack
(2016) Protest leadership in the age of social media, Information, Communication
& Society, 19:7, 994-1014, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2015.1088049
The authors of this article ask a question of, whether Ghonim and Mansour, as
page administrators, can be seen as activist leaders (2), as they were responsible for
creating a Facebook page to protest the murder of Khaled Said in Egypt in 2011. His
death allowed for many to become upset and begin joining pages, such as the one created
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by Ghonim, online in order to protest police brutality. With tons of likes and comments
on the issues, many indicated that they would link up with each other in person and join
together to protest. Although the page administrators could be seen as activist leaders, we
also have to remember that an open page on Facebook can be liked or joined by any
single person around the world, regardless of if they supported the cause or not. Even
with that being said however, after there was a period of protests, Ghonim was identified
as a Page administrator and arrested for 12 days. This is one of the main examples I
will use in my argument that there is a direct link between social media use and direct
actions following them, as this article shows how a main leader/ activist in protesting in
Egypt was arrested for his part in creating a Facebook page.
Uscinski, Joseph E. "FAKE NEWS FREAKOUT." Academic Search Complete, n.d. Web.
Unlike the other articles about how social media affects action, Joseph Uscinski
tells us of the numerous amounts of fake news that can be found on social media sites and
other networks today. With stories as ridiculous as telling us Hillary Clinton was
terminally ill and had even passed away, to a story telling about how Obama worked his
way through college as a gay prostitute, Joseph wonders how much of what we see on
social media can we truly believe. As Joseph tells us, People who absorb inaccuracies
will sometimes believe them and, worse, act on them (1), I wonder if any protests or
actions taken by people could be unjust and for no reason, if it was acted upon by fake
news.
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Hajirnis, Aditi. "Social Media Networking: Parent Guidance Required." The Brown
University Child and Adolescent Behavioral Letter, n.d. Web.
As social media progresses many parents have become concerned with the way
their children are using these sites and applications. This article tells us of how many
kids use social media as a version of self-expression such as artwork, music, and
political views. It can serve as a place to hang out with friends (6), leaving kids
expressing more and more even on subject they may not completely informed of. Aditi
tells us of how Facebook is meant for kids 11 and older and how many younger children
are using this site as well as many others, ultimately allowing them to see and learn of
content that many parents believe they are not mature enough to hear about. I will use
this article to appeal to emotion, as it will allow us to realize the diverse group of people
and ages that are able to see everything that is said online and the actions taken after
them.
Fuchs, Christian. "BEHIND THE NEWS Social Media, Riots, and Revolutions." Uppsala
University, n.d. Web.
In 2011 Mark Duggan was shot and killed by London Police in Tottenham,
England. This article discusses how this death triggered many riots across England,
which was organized through social media. The British Home Secretary Theresa May
said social media have been used to co-ordinate criminality and stay one step ahead of
the police (2). The article shows how gang members and other citizens used social
media sites such as twitter to communicate where police would and wouldnt be in order
to riot, protest, and cause as much damage as possible. The article goes on to tell us more
about how social media can promote get togethers that dont always hurt others as in one
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case, that a citizen army armed with brooms organized itself with the help of Twitter
(#riotcleanup) and Facebook in order to reclaim and clean the streets of London (385).
This article shows us that social media has an immediate effect on how people group
together and sometimes on actions people take, both positively and negatively.
