Social Media's Role in Making and Recording History

 Social media is drastically increasing the records of history but in an unexpected way. There are both good and bad sides to this depending on how one looks at it. In the evergrowing popularity of media, events ranging from small, insignificant moments in time such as that college party last weekend to major global events such as the 2022 Winter Olympics are documented and shared on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and every other major social media platform. This provides a record of events and things people have said or done that will have a permanent footprint. This is a great thing because history being made today will forever be recorded as it happens. This means events and periods of history are likely never to be lost to time. 

Cultures, where oral traditions or singular copies of a manuscript are all the history there is, can easily lose history to a disease or old age as with a lot of native tribes or a corrupt government such as in Orwell’s 1984. Having a plethora of accounts detailing history in pictures, videos, and text posts ensures these records withstand the test of time, and there isn’t some Winston who can go through with a pen and paper and rewrite history nearly as easily and without a trace. 

There are some issues with this though, as the increase in media is also leading to an increase in fake news that spreads like wildfire and is misconceived as true. This leads to mass posts flooding social media platforms with false information, also being permanently recorded in history. This can create false perceptions of the past and cause history to be documented incorrectly. There are multiple accounts of this happening in recent election campaigns, elections, and presidencies, although I do not wish to share my opinions or get into any of that. People flood Twitter and Facebook with accusations without any evidence and other people will read this, take it as the truth, and spread the lies even further and the cycle continues.

 Some good things do come out of this ability to see things and share news with large audiences. In the past few years, a handful of influences have taken part in two projects, #TeamSeas and #TeamTrees, to reach out to audiences and try to influences a move of change. These influences share data with their audiences and then ask for their help in raising the funds to plant trees and clean up this world’s oceans. Media can be a platform that sparks huge movements such as these. By reaching audiences and having these platforms, influencers, and even just your family and friends, can share important causes and link people together to try and solve a problem. Team Seas, the most recent large mobilization of people I have seen towards one cause, has been able to raise $30.8 million dollars that is all being used to clean the oceans. The media can be a powerful way to spread information and motivate people to take action in one form or another and cause great change.