According to Malcom Gladwell, a well-known author in the area of social media, social media are built around weak ties and real social change can never come from loose networks of people that do not know each other. Do you think that social media has the potential to bring about real social change?

Malcom Gladwell’s statement that social media is built around weak ties and real social change can never come from loose networks of people that do not know each other is very debatable. Social media has revolutionized the way in which people communicate on an international scale, allowing for messages to be delivered forthwith and in real time. Social media has made it possible for people to have their voices heard without fear of prosecution and bias of being rejected by mainstream media. Such common methods of social communication include Twitter or Facebook. Social networks make it easy for people to show support for a cause, by clicking a “like: button for example. It has become increasingly popular attracting political figures such as Dalton McGuinty, and bringing about and promotes social, economic and environmental change in the real world.  If these social networks didn’t exist such as Facebook or Twitter, then a different form of communication medium would be used.