Social media synthesis essay

This essay must include three outside sources used as evidence in the essay.

Your response should make a strong, arguable claim that takes a stand on the issue: yes they are social change-makers or no they are not. Use as many or as few of the articles you need to provide evidence of your claim, but certainly use NO FEWER THAN THREE of the articles. Your writing should avoid mere summary of the texts you choose to reference. You should use strong analysis and paragraph development skills, using the articles/sources
I provided the sources in the documents I posted with this.Your Sources: Directions: Read and watch the following sources. As you read, keep track of evidence that helps you develop an argument for our synthesis question. Feel free to add your novel as one of the sources for this essay. You might even consider requiring the novel you’re studying and directing students to choose a few of the sources below to defend their argument. • Source #1: “The Movement of #MeToo: How a Hashtag Got its Power” • In this quick article from Sophie Gilbert of The Atlantic, students will get a timeline of how the hashtag movement of #MeToo began. It highlights the major players and how it was jump started on Twitter, then moved to Facebook. • Source #2: After Charlottesville, #ThisIsNotUS Hashtag Shows An America Fed-Up And Frustrated by Dominique Mosbergen of The Huffington Post • This article explores the rhetoric of a new hashtag that emerged after the Charlottesville protests, suggesting that #ThisIsNotUs “denies” America’s difficult, but real past. • Source #3: “Thank You, Scott” a skit from SNL • This skit is quick lesson in satire. Take a look and see for yourself how thankful we are to Scott -- the guy on the couch who “shared” a political post and changed his status to #blacklivesmatter. He’s making a difference without ever leaving his house! You will need to be able to comment on the underlying message of this satire, and what it is really saying about the value of “Scott”’s posts. • Source #4: The #MeToo Movement Shows It’s More Than Just a Hashtag by Erin Gloria Ryan of The Daily Beast • This article acknowledges the huge potential for a hashtag movement to fail and be forgotten, but describes how #MeToo is different from any hashtag campaign that came before it. • Source #5: “A hashtag is not a movement” a YouTube clip from Shonda Rhimes’ commencement address at Dartmouth College • Also, here’s an article from their school blog that digs a little big deeper into the idea. • Source #6: Social Media as a Formidable Force for Change by Ritu Sharma of The Huffington Post • Ms. Sharma makes a compelling case in this article supporting the use of hashtags for creating social change. She highlights some successful campaigns and suggest a few reasons why hashtags can be so powerful. • Source #7: Hashtag Activism, and its Limits from the New York Times • This article provides a really nice overview of the premise of the debate of this particular essay. I especially like the line: “Hitting the favorite button on the first episode of “Mad Men” is a remarkably different gesture than expressing digital solidarity with kidnapped children in Africa, but it all sort of looks the same at the keyboard.” This is one of the advanced, more demanding articles of the list as far as content and vocabulary are concerned. • Source #8: “Gun Control Now” Consumes Twitter • This article demonstrates how #PrayforVegas became #guncontrolnow. It’s an interesting perspective on how a popular hashtag transformed into an outcry for political change. • Source #9: Twitter Chat: Can hashtag activism have real impact? From the PBS Newshour • This PBS Newshour Twitter chat asked participants to weigh in about the effectiveness of hashtag activism. This article will give students real Tweets to read with a huge variety of opinions. • Source #10: Hashtag Activism Is Fleeting by Nick Donias of The Baltimore Sun • This article takes a very extreme stance against the use of hashtags to create social change. In his concluding sentence, Donias states, “Hashtag activism and trending language is not sustainable. It's exclusive, fleeting and meaningless. Real action is what matters.