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Personal Blog Entry

Black Lives Matter (BLM)

Black Lives Matter protests are an example of computer-mediated collective action. A

Twitter post titled #Black Lives Matter following the acquittal of officer Zimmerman, who shot

and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, sparked collective action and the social movement

against police brutality on African Americans across the U.S., forming one of the largest and

most pervasive contemporary organizations (Tillery 297). Subsequent news and conversations on

social mass media illuminating police violence and wrongful killings spread the calls for justice

to a fully-fledged national social movement and nationwide demonstrations. Protests over

Floyd’s killing are a case in point, attracting half a million participants in 550 locations in the

U.S. (Buchanan, Bui, and Jugal). This blog entry applies this example of computer-mediated

collective action to discuss the relationship between mass media and computer-mediated

communication (CMC).

To date, these demonstrations are the largest and most pervasive in history. Buchanan et

al. report that over 20 million people say they participated in protests over the brutal police

killings of George Floyd and others since the BLM movement began. Since the first protest in

Minneapolis in May, 4700 demonstrations on the social movements’ grievances account. The

Black Lives Matter organization does not arrange all protests, but it uses social media platforms

for mass communication to share details of different demonstrations. The social media
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communication between people in the George Floyd protests successfully mobilized people to

show up and participate. From the high turnout, the communications were effective.

Mobile tools like smartphones allow people to record real-time videos. Social media

platforms facilitate the circulation of these videos and images uncensured as they happen. This

affordance shows the truth about the situation first-hand (Gil de Zuniga 110). George Floyd’s

video moved many people to join the protests. In this manner, it framed racism as an existing

national than a Black community concern. The BLM demonstrations compelled systemic racism

and racial police violence into international discourse.

Protests about Floyd’s murder are part of the Black Lives Matter collective actions

against racial injustices and police killings of African Americans. Since the first demonstrations

in Minneapolis, BLM protests have grown internationally and drawn people from all races.

According to Buchanan et al., 95% of states with protests are majority white. The protests have

also inspired many policy and structural changes to curb police violence against monitories.

Traditional mass communication media also report in this collective action. Most

television reports focus on rioters’ destruction and violence more than the reasons for the protest

or the peaceful aspects (Reid and Craig 293). Consequently, nonviolent protests got little

coverage. Most newspapers reported the protests on their front pages with images of protestors,

giving more context to Floyd’s extrajudicial murder. Like T.V. reporters, radio and print media

approached the issue from analytic perspectives, discussing the broader implications of the issue

and court decisions. Social media used hashtags involving Floyd’s name and police violence and

racial themes. On the contrary, most traditional media avoided such explicit racial language and

frames.
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How I Consume Online News

I get news information first and often from social media, especially Twitter, YouTube,

and Facebook, from my tablet, computer, or smartphone. However, I try to countercheck the

information to ensure its authority and accuracy. I prefer Facebook posts and Twitter feeds from

reputable news outlets or reporters from BBC, The New York Post, Fox News, and CNN. Unlike

watching T.V., reading a newspaper, or listening to the radio, online news is interactive. I can

participate in the conversation and access other people's opinions on the content. I can also

choose what content to pay attention to and assume what does not interest me.

Effects of Computer-Mediated Communication on Information Exchange

Computer-mediated communication has altered information exchange in several ways.

First, it has mitigated factual news reporting. Since the information comes from various sources

and non-experts, it is rarely uniform or authentic. Most of them are misleading and fake, unlike

old media. Secondly, it has ushered in an active reception of information and a ‘news-find-me’

culture (Gil de Zuniga et al. 107). Unlike old media, where the audience was merely receivers,

computer-mediated communication allows two-way interactions. Audiences can also comment.

Mobile technology has also affected news consumption. News information travels faster

through online sources than traditional media. Specifically, people no longer wait for prime time

to receive news. Mobile smartphones enable people to receive news in real-time and anytime

through different platforms, increasing exposure to news information (Gil de Zuniga et al. 105).

Moreover, people consume news selectively, focusing only on the topic that interests them. They

also read or hear a small portion of the piece. However, social media also determines the types of

news a person sees depending on their social friends and interests.

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Peoples’ obsessive attachment to mobile news sources has adversely affected how they

communicate. For example, most people would rather communicate over texts and tweets than

in-person. Furthermore, rapid and massive information flow and controlling news consumption

have also decreased attention span. People also process information shallowly to keep up with

the fast-streaming huge newsfeeds or for fear of missing out (FOMO). Consequently, people get

bored faster with normally-paced intimate face-to-face communications, preferring their phones.

Mobile news also mitigated people's sensitivity to non-verbal cues and social skills essential for

effective communication. Social media news has also encouraged brief communication between

people.
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Works Cited

Buchanan, Larry, Quoctrung Bui, and Jugal K. Patel. Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest

Movement in U.S. History. The New York Times, 3 Jul. 2020,

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-

size.html. Accessed 2 December 2021

Gil de Zúñiga, Homero, Brian Weeks, and Alberto Ardèvol-Abreu. “Effects of the News-Finds-

Me Perception in Communication: Social Media Use Implications for News Seeking and

Learning about Politics.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 22, no .3,

2017, pp. 105-123.

Reid, J. C., & Craig, M. O. (2021). Is it a Rally or a Riot? Racialized Media Framing of 2020

Protests in the United States. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, vol. 19, no. 3, pp.

291-310.

Tillery, Alvin B. "What kind of movement is Black Lives Matter? The view from

Twitter." Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, vol. 4, no. 2, 2019, pp. 297-323.