ABSTRACT
This chapter examines numerous examples of social media activism to describe the current landscape of activism. Activists push for change by promoting or hindering an organization or industry's ability to do something. Many activists today are using the Internet and social media platforms to raise awareness, present evidence, criticize opponents, activate and nurture supporters, and build resources to achieve their goals. The chapter explores two brief examples of activists using Facebook and YouTube to illustrate the power of social media to galvanize grassroots support: the 2011 Egyptian revolution and Kony 2012. "Bashtags" are hashtags appropriated by activists for their own purposes, such as when New York City Police Department asked Twitter followers to submit favorite photos of themselves with police officers using the hashtag #myNYPD. Tunisian activists used geotagging to "geobomb" the Tunisian presidential palace's location on Google Earth with links to video testimonies of Tunisian political prisoners and human rights defenders after the government blocked access to video-sharing websites.
