Throughout time, people have risen against those in power. The need to fight for one’s rights is an inherent part of life. It is not something true in only humans, it is displayed in all living things alike. Author Malcolm Gladwell, once pondered the ability of social media as a medium to begin this protest as society has evolved. Gladwell grew up in a time before the internet and has overseen the drastic change in the world over the past half century. People went from reading papers and listening to the radio to obtain their news to visiting sites such as Twitter or Facebook. The news has become watered down, more biased, and less fact based. These assertions were made by Gladwell within his essay, Why the Revolution WIll Not Be Tweeted. Although this is true, Gladwell has not noticed the immense power that such social media sites have purely off the incredible volume of users.…show more content… King JR. was one of the most influential men to ever walk the earth. He brought millions of people together to fight oppression. He did not need social media to spread his beliefs, he used word of mouth and “strong ties” to get people to come and protest with him. The political leaders of the 21st century work in a totally different way. Instead of giving speeches and going out and gaining support they band together on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and thousands of other sites to enlist followers to come out and battle injustice. Gladwell constantly downplays the ability of such networks by saying things such as; “The things that King needed in Birmingham - discipline and strategy - were things that online social media cannot provide” (Gladwell para. 28), “If Martin Luther King, Jr., had tried to do a wiki-boycott in Montgomery, he would have been steamrolled by the white power structure.” (Gladwell para.
