Read this article about Facebook if you want $1 million dollars; turn the page if you don’t.
Sounds familiar, right? This phenomenon on social media puts guilt in the minds of the public so certain people can get more likes on their Facebook pages; in other situations, people use this tactic to start a movement.
When it comes to issues such as marriage equality, and people changing their profile picture on Facebook to an equal sign, people aren’t just jumping on the bandwagon. Those people who have the bravery to do that probably stand for the issue 100 percent.
But, there are additional pictures going around, such as the “’like’ this picture for God, keep scrolling for Satan.” It uses pathos and makes people feel guilty if they don’t like this certain picture. Those are just posted by individuals wanting their picture to go viral and get “likes.” That is where it should stop.
I don’t necessarily think that people changing their Facebook profile pictures or sharing certain pictures with inspirational messages will defeat the issues that the public is being faced with. But, it is a good way to see where people stand. All it takes is one person to change the world or, in this case, start a movement.
If Martin Luther King Jr. did not stand up for and share his beliefs, then the civil rights movement may never have happened. And if all of the activists didn’t join together and stand for their rights, then we would still be segregated today. Though that change wasn’t made through Facebook, it has the same general idea.
This phenomenon on Facebook should not be rejected because people are aggravated by seeing the same pictures over and over again. If the world coming together this way makes people happy and unites the public, then who’s to say we should stop it? It could be something like this down the road that saves our nation from falling apart.
These are circumstances, such as the social media phenomenon, “Share this picture to help me find my real parents,” in which Facebook proves an invaluable tool.
The public thought this was a scam until Facebookers started sharing pictures of the success the original posters were having at locating their family members. Then it became the next big thing on social media.
As long as the public uses social media for things that are for the common good, who are we to judge what people put or even don’t put on the Internet? We should stand up for what we believe in, even if it is “liking” a message or changing our Facebook profile pictures. One person can’t change the world, but changing the world can start with one person.
