Power to the people: #blockout, boycotts, and the #digitine
Shadi-Sade Sarreshtehdarzadeh, strategy lead at 72andSunny, discusses the social media revolution currently taking place, and what it could mean for brands.
The social media revolution is upon us. But not as we’ve talked about it before.
It’s been a solid decade since people started using the internet for activism, whichever side of the coin their political views stand on. Let us not forget 4chan, originally a meme playground for teens that catapulted into public pranks; its evolution into Anonymous instigating #OccupyWallStreet…and then turning its head to conspiracy theories, incels, Trump’s unpredicted presidential win, and the qAnon alt right uprising. (TLDR; watch ‘The Anti-Social Network’ on Netflix for a deep dive into the origins of politicising the web).
But in recent weeks, it’s reached new heights with the #Digitine movement, going from a subset of society, hidden in the shadows, to a mass populus uprising in front of our eyes.
