The Occupy Wall Street Movement

With so many technological advances in today’s society, it is no wonder why industrialized nations like the United States are constantly changing and always seeking to find the next best thing. Social media is one of the several technological advances currently thriving in American society. Social media has significantly changed the way of communication between organizations, communities, and individuals through websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Recently, social media has become a vital role in social movements like Occupy Wall Street, an ongoing series of protests against economic inequality, greed and the influence of big corporations on government. Unfortunately, the impact of social media on Occupy Wall Street has had mixed
In a segment of The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly expresses his thoughts on Occupy Wall Street, and seems to show some opposition towards its growth and development. During the show, O’Reilly presents a clip created by MoveOn, an organization supporting the movement, which displays several acts of police brutality on peaceful protestors in Oakland, California. While several people see the video as a way to show the unjust nature of the police force, and thereby increase support for the movement, others, like O’Reilly, view the video a bit differently. He believes that the use of social media is only helping people be “exploited by powerful radical organizations.” He adds that these exploited individuals “are being used in the hopes of embarrassing the USA.” This proves that not everyone sees the growth of Occupy Wall Street as good thing. Many people, such as Bill O’Reilly, stick to their belief that social media is only being used to “demonize capitalism” and make the United States as a whole look weak and
Many fear that, while protestors have been successful at tweeting about the movement and creating Facebook pages to increase support, such strategies are not lucrative at making any significant social or economic changes in our society. In a story by Jesse Comart from Mashable, Comart writes that not having a leader causes the movement to “fail to form a coherent message, to accept large donations, to hold formal talks with political leaders, to fundraise for current progressive candidates, or to endorse [its] own political challengers.” He goes on by saying the movement “has a long way to go before having any hope of transforming its broad principles into actionable policies” because “it remains that the U.S. political system still fails to recognize such digital clout.” Comart’s viewpoint also ties in to the claims presented by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell says networks, like Facebook and Twitter, lack a certain hierarchical organization. “Unlike hierarchies, with their rules and procedures, networks aren’t controlled by a single central authority. Decisions are made through consensus, and the ties that bind people to the group are loose.” Both Comart and Gladwell strongly believe that a movement like Occupy Wall Street requires a leader if it wishes to see any substantial improvements with the nation’s unstable economy. Without one, many people might soon raise the same