The Impact of Social Media on Labor Movements

Abstract

This paper explores the influence that social media has on labor movements. In historical perspective, labor movement has been aiming to improve workers’ lives sustainably by strengthening labor-intensive regulatory networks. The advancement of information and communication technology (ICT) has significantly and globally improved the mobilization and empowerment of individual citizens through social media (William Koen, 2014). The rapid expansion and accessibility of digital platforms have affected various aspects of society, including the way labor activists communicate, organize, and mobilize protests. As a result, more researchers have recently shown interest in simple case studies and theoretical implications about the dual role of social media in labor movements and considered issues such as how platforms of digital have enabled and resisted labor activists and the types of networks being supported, particularly whether gravity-governed risks have been considered. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to assess the influence of social media on labor movement, drawing on both historical and contemporary perspectives. Given the growing inequality and diminishing labor rights in many economies, it is essential to be fully aware of how social media may empower and potentially harm labor movements.Social media empowers the communication and organization of labor activists. As social media only conceal the initiation costs, it is easier for the organization to spread their thoughts and images around the world. In particular, social media removes the biggest obstacle to traditional media activism through the ability of the exclusive media: its requirement of powerful mediators. In this regard the development of media democratizes the media, making it easier to transmit, receive and distribute. This does not mean that alternative media can easily replace these traditional outlets, since the boundaries between traditional and alternative media are increasingly blurred and the state remains a powerful moderator in the global media arena (Ariana Emanuela, 2018). However, social media is considered to have been much more disruptive because it transforms power relations, expressing it in a secure and interactive way as a decentral loudly disseminated networked-based channel.

Keywords :social media, labor movements, worker empowerment, digital activism, mobilization, inequality, communication networks, media democratization