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| Photo by: geralt via Pixabay |
The NeverAgain hashtag serves as a fitting reminder about what Twitter and social media were supposed to be in the first place, according to Nick Bilton, writing for Vanity Fair.
People do not realize that most social media platforms were not created to do good in the world as their main aim.Facebook was started so that its developer could get dates with girls while Twitter was started for a way to locate friends in a bar or concert.It was not until the 2009 Iranian elections that world realized that social media platforms can become vehicles for change.
But the students who survived the Florida high school mass shooting incident have used Twitter and traditional broadcast media to vent their ire and disgust about guns, the National Rifle Association, and the Republican politicians who support the trade association.They have started social media campaigns exhorting Americans not to vote for politicians who receive donations from the NRA.They have organized marches and protests to assert that they are not giving up.
Their media aptitude is phenomenal because it took just hours for the NeverAgain hashtag to become a trending topic on Twitter.It took only a week for their GoFundMe page to collect US$2.5 million in donations.They have caused major corporations such as MetLife, First National Bank, Hertz and Avis to rescind their tie-ups with the NRA.
Among these students is David Hogg who tweeted that students should not go to Florida for spring break until gun legislation has been passed.Another student, Jaclyn Corin has created the hashtag #WHATIF and a video that asked what if politicians valued children’s lives more than dollars.A third student, Emma Gonzalez, has seen her Twitter account followed by a million people after making an emotional speech lambasting US President Donald Trump, the US Congress, and the NRA.She hoped that the Florida shooting incident would be the last mass shooting incident.
