First Assessment

I remember sometime last year when I was talking to a good friend about the common raves and rants that happened over Facebook.  We discussed how peoples fears and anxieties were influenced so poorly.  I believe social media effects our opinions because it can enhance our fear, which can lead to misunderstandings.   Some people are becoming more understanding and taking a step back and considering the other party's philosophy.

  I don't fully believe that social media changes our opinions, I think that we are open to other peoples opinions, but we rarely change ours just for the sake of settlement.  It seems to be a never ending cycle.  One thing that has changed is the fact that more people are speaking out for their own beliefs, as well as for the support of others..

This article had some great statistics.
"The long-term shift in the public’s views about same-sex marriage is unambiguous. Polling conducted in 2003 found most Americans (58%) opposed to allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, and just a third (33%) in favor. The new survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted March 13-17, 2013 among 1,501 adults nationwide, confirms that these figures have crossed, with 49% supporting same-sex marriage, and 44% opposed"

Facebook helps to spread viral videos that can change our thoughts, which I think for the most part is positive.  It allows for collective dialogue.  For example, I am not a big live TV watcher, so I didn't watch the Grammy's (Plus it doesn't really interest me) but I happen to be on Twitter while the Grammy's was airing.  For 2 hours most of the Tweets I saw was about the Grammy's and winners.  I then saw a few Tweets about Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's appearance on the Grammy's singing "Same Love".   I then went to my Facebook feed and saw that a few of my gay friends had posted about the video.  I didn't take the chance to look it up, but it did spark an interest.  The next few days I heard (read) more and more about the performance.  Finally I decided to check it out and see what it was all about since several of my friends had mentioned it.

Another example from last year when Facebook was covered in red all around the nation.  What do I mean by that?  When thousands and thousands of people changed their profile pictures to the red equals sign.

People put this image as their profile picture for days letting other people know that they supported marriage equality.  After a few short days this went viral.  People that were not familiar with the sign, questioned their friends about it and brought more awareness to equality.  Facebook helps to keep us informed and aware about whats going on.