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Darren Wilson a Caucasian police officer, 28, fatally shot unarmed Michael Brown seven to eight times causing his death. Social media played a massive role in Brown’s case and spreading awareness to those not in Ferguson.
Brown and Johnson then fled in different directions, with Wilson in pursuit of Brown, eventually firing several more times. Brown’s innocence along with past police killings struck the nation. The night of Browns death Ferguson started a riot. The people of Ferguson began to vandalize and loot businesses. As protestors began to get antsy and want answers about why Mike Brown was killed, officer’s reaction worsened. Officers were using full force to stop protestors.
Officers started using tear gas to prevent the news from sharing the information of the events taking place.
The people of Ferguson used social media as their weapon. Post after post was uploaded to social networks. Michael Brown’s case started a trend amongst communities and colleges. Across the states, people were protesting with their hands up to symbolize “Don’t Shoot,” as Brown did moments before being killed. As news outlets began to post statements and reports of Ferguson, people were still not satisfied. News wasn’t as reliable as social networks were.
People used social media to help spread awareness and also voice their opinions on the topic. The furor over Brown’s death online has shown the strength of social media activism in raising awareness of issues that may fly under the mainstream media’s radar.
As social media served as a major role of notifying the public of Ferguson it also changed social media’s impact on society. On November 24th 2014 when the world was informed of Wilson, Brown’s killer not being convicted 3.5 million tweets were tweeted discussing this decision.Social media is now being used to help facilitate and organize protest. In addition to providing information about the protests, social media might affect people’s motivation to participate in the protest.
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