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Synthesis 1 Essay

1. Social media and political engagement Loader et al., Shirkey

“Twitter is basically a mutual approval machine. We surround ourselves with people who feel the same way as we do and we approve each other ... if someone gets in the way, we scream them out... that’s the opposite of democracy” (Ronson).

“The use of social media tools—Text messaging, e-mail, photo sharing, social networking, and the like — does not have a preordained outcome.” (Shirky 29)

Information about major issues in business and the economy is widely available for this generation. “These things are not nonsense and these are subjects which are not being addressed … .Until they are taken seriously … why would I encourage a constituency of young people who are indifferent to vote?” (Loader et al. 144)

Social media has influenced the engagement of citizens in government.

Connectivity of Social media

In the Philippines in 2001 over a million people gathered to protest. They spread the information about the protest via text message in order to impeach their president. (Shirky 28)

“People’s tendency to form connections and bonds with one another, and live life in concert with others, is called sociality, and a great deal of this can be accomplished via digital technology.” (Chayko 12)

2. Abuse of Social media Ganesh, Ronson, Madrigal "The Swarm"

“The amorphous, fluid structure of digital hate culture prevents it from being easily governable. As a swarm brought together by its shared mentality, it connects a set of agents with a collective identity and sense of community. This swarm is ungovernable, rather than ungoverned, due to three characteristics: its decentralized structure, its ability to quickly navigate and migrate across websites, and its use of coded language.” (Ganesh 36,37)

“Twitter is basically a mutual approval machine. We surround ourselves with people who feel the same way as we do and we approve each other ... if someone gets in the way, we scream them out” (Ronson)

Referring to the movie “The Matrix,” Ganesh describes the “red pill” in social media and how it reveals things that are too strong to mention in polite speech. “In the context of digital hate culture, the red pill awakens its taker to uncomfortable truths that cannot be spoken in polite society” (Ganesh 35) Once exposed by the red pill, its almost as if agency is taken away. People are manipulated to believe views as if they were fact.

Topic sentence: Social media is being abused in multiple ways.

3. How the freedom of Speech changed Tufecki Ronson

Convergence: Both agree that freedom of speech is inhibited. Diverence: Ronson believes it is due to others shutting you down. Tufekci believes it is due to the algorithms.

Throughout history, the ability to speak to a large amount of people was very limited. “In the 21st century, the capacity to spread ideas and reach an audience is no longer limited by access to expensive, centralized broadcasting infrastructure. It’s limited instead by one’s ability to garner and distribute attention” (Tufecki 12)

“We are now creating a surveillance society where the best way to survive is to go back to being voiceless.” (Ronson)

Topic Sentence: The ability to speak freely has been influenced by Social media.