Everyone is doing Social Media wrong

Hello!

Happy Tuesday gang! Hope everyone is doing well! There are many exciting things going on right now, but I think today’s main report highlights one of the biggest issues through a different lens. So let us hop to it.

Today’s Main Report

How everyone failed Social Media 101 in regards to the situation in Gaza

As a forewarning, this article is not going to discuss in depth what is going on in the Gaza Strip right now. The situation in Gaza with Palestine and Israel has been going on for a number of years, probably longer than even most of our parents have been around. It’s a somewhat complex and sensitive issue that I don’t feel like I can thoroughly analyze right now to report to you my readers in my style at this time but I’ll be sure to link some resources down below that can explore a bit more information on this topic.

Even though I’ve chosen to not say much directly on this topic it appears over the last week or so every celeb and influencer has decided to weigh in on this issue while having disastrous effects. As stated above the situation going on in Gaza right now is a bit more complex than many people may think leading many on social media to call out big named celebs who are just generically choosing sides or just posting to get in the conversation without really fact-checking what they are getting into.

Most notably we have Justin Bieber just innocently reposting an image along with Jamie Lee Curtis showing support to one side of the conflict. However, the images they were showing were actually for the other side of the conflict. They were in actuality supporting the side that was causing the distress they were showing in their images. There are many more accounts of this around the socials but they all highlight the same issue.

Not everyone needs to post about everything on social media. I will admit some of my biases here and say that I think social media has done more good than harm in the overall spectrum of the world. It has allowed people to connect, it has allowed those who may not be represented in traditional media to get voices, fame, and recognition. Importantly it can highlight issues we are collectively trying to bring into the light. However, on the flip side, social media can also funnel out misinformation, its algorithms can sway how people think by deciding what to show and it can also bury important things that may not be popular to the general masses. Those with big followings especially can change people’s perspectives on topics by deciding what or how they post certain things. So posting certain images without doing the proper research can lead to doing more harm than good actually.

That’s not to say every Celebrity posting about this right now isn’t informed or doesn’t know what’s going on. Many celebs who have some direct ties on both sides of this conflict have come out and said well-thought-out messaging on what is happening such as Gigi Hadid above. Her above message has gotten backlash as well but it at least seems to be putting more effort into highlighting how complex the issue is and her stance on it.

To blatantly put my takeaways today. I know I’ve stated a few times now that people like to follow people but we should still do our own due diligence and do the research especially if human lives are in jeopardy or being affected by how we react to things. Also, you don’t need to weigh in on everything especially if you have no idea what’s going on.

Some Resources to educate ourselves on what’s happening: