The Point: Spring 2018

Trends shift in a minute. What is
popular or breaking news today seems
to lose its impact the next. In a world so
fast-spinning, those seeking to maintain
the role of “advocate” for topics and peoples
they care about, face a dilemma—how does
one continue to work and strive for effective
advocacy when most online platforms and
discussions seem to end in arguments? How
does one find authenticity in movements
in a world in which hashtags seem to be
where activism stops, and bandwagoning
seems to negate a cause’s significance?
Rebekah Covington is a recent film
graduate of Chapman University. As
an NBC employee, Covington has
seen the positive and negative impact
social media has on movements. Being
a Christian in a secular environment,
she also has the opportunity to gain
insight into the way mainstream media,
bandwagoning and hashtag culture has
affected the entertainment industry.
She explains that participating with
a lack of knowledge or without a
pure motive could be hazardous.
“I think if you’re informed, that’s good,
but doing it to be with it or to be on the
right side of history; that’s when it can be
problematic,” Covington said. “It’s about
proper motivation, not just to make your
social media seem like you’re totally with
it, and you’re super liberal—whatever the
flavor of the day is, in that regard.”
To know a movement, its history, its
deep motivations—and then to use
social media as a tool—renders results.
“I think if those hashtags are used
appropriately, and given the platform
that the Me Too movement got,
I think they can be beneficial,”
Covington said. “I think when
they are then turned and used as a
weapon, they are not as effective.”
To Covington, the idea of
keeping up with culture and
staying relevant has blurred
the lines of activism.
“I think that [a desire to be a part of
a cause] can happen, especially within
millennial culture of wanting to appear
‘woke,’” Covington said. “There’s a
certain amount of ‘I have to say this’
or ‘I have to agree with this because
it’s what the woke thing to do is.’”
In her interview, Covington expresses
the importance of determining one’s
beliefs for themselves and forming
their opinions accordingly.
“I think it is important that you …
figure out what you believe, not just
let Twitter tell you what to think
on something,” Covington said.
Understanding personal motivation
is essential, especially when what one
advocates for is an unpopular opinion.
“If you are going against the unpopular opinion,
you have to know why. You have to know
why it is you feel that way,” Covington said.
Within every social media movement,
lies a goal: to reach the masses, to
gain their support and to ultimately
make a change. In the TED Talk,
“Online social change: easy to organize,
hard to win,” techno-sociologist
Zeynep Tufekci discusses the online
medium of social activism and how
social media affects protests.
“After more than a decade of studying
and participating in multiple social
movements, I’ve come to realize that
the way technology empowers social
movements can also paradoxically help
to weaken them,” Tufekci said. “This
is not inevitable, but overcoming it
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