Local Flavor: New York

How did Occupy Wall Street make it onto your radar? Was it through communication from newspapers, TV, word of mouth, or demonstrations in your city? For me, it was through my Facebook and Twitter feed. Occupy Wall Street caught my attention when friends posting quotes, interviews, photo and video related to the cause began showing up all over my Facebook News Feed. It was Occupy Wall Street’s use of social media that caught not just my eye, but the eye of mainstream media. These protests are a household name because of mainstream media, but social media was the match that lit the fire.

We’ve seen protests run by social media before. It was only last January when thousands in Egypt took the streets to protest unemployment, government corruption, and the general rule under President Mubarak. This was the largest protest Egypt had seen since the 1970’s, and Twitter was the tool used to drive communication and organize the protests. The government responded by blocking Twitter, Facebook, the internet, and text messaging. By taking away social media, the government cut off the supply to the protestors, but simultaneously gave a larger voice to the protest by giving mainstream media something to buzz about.

What makes social media tools so effective is that they aren’t complex to use, but when used correctly, they can make a sensational impact. The Wall Street protests began on September 17^th. Now, not even a month later, over 450,000 Facebook users have joined Occupy Wall Street fan pages – Occupy Wall Street has gone viral.

What’s especially interesting about protests fueled by social media is there is a protest going on in two places at once – physically on the streets and digitally through the World Wide Web. The irony here being that people have to be reached through their computers, to get them away from their computers, and out on the street demanding change.

Occupy Wall Street used Twitter to establish themselves as any other group would. They created an @occupywallst Twitter name and an #occupywallstreet hashtag. With the addition of Facebook accounts, there was the added opportunity for anyone, to share information at any time across multiple social media platforms. Artinfo.com notes, “Because the protest was continuously documenting itself, it was hard to tell who was participant, who was reporter, and who was tourist, snapping photos for their Instagram feed as they would of their cat or their breakfast.” Regardless of this lack of organization, Occupy Wall Street is still a champion of social media. As long as there’s still tweeting, posting, real time photo and video, the mainstream media is going to be interested, and so are we.