Many powerful movements have been finding their strength and support on social media. They use social media as a viable platform to launch awareness and advocacy regarding issues that the average person may never know about, let alone be educated on. I find the knowledge and solidarity empowering and yet you can never fully escape it getting all too political. The debates and the opinions thrown around about topics tend to dilute the message of the movement. Which makes me a firm believer of doing your own research and the importance of credible resources.
Recently I found myself reading the Instagram story of a friend online about another advocacy topic. Her intentions were good but her screenshots left me with nowhere to find more information so with my limited knowledge I brushed off the topic with annoyance. “Why do so many good intention trends or hashtags get so much backlash?”, I thought. I am tired of people just going against the grain just to cause unnecessary drama. It’s moments like these where my Instagram icon starts to wiggle as I contemplate deleting it off my iPhone.
But then there are people like my friend Alycia, she posted references to the same topic on her Instagram stories. Unlike the other person, she actually linked her stories to other accounts with more information and empowered the hashtag for what it was, while also leading her friends and followers to learn and grow if they so desired. As my friend Alycia stated so perfectly, “If your goal is to help people educate themselves, then give them resources. We’re all just trying to raise awareness and be good stewards of humanity for goodness sake.”
If you want to raise awareness on social media, point people in the right direction to dig deeper. Be more like Alycia.
The Salty Exchange 