1. What is the author’s main assertion or claim about social media (look at the topic
sentence at the beginning of the essay before section 1). What is he saying about
social media’s ability to help change society?
The author doesn’t believe that social media is strong enough to bring about change in society,
possibly because of the sheer amount of diverse opinions and ideas.
2. What event/events in the Civil Rights movement does section 1 describe?
It describes the sit-in that the Greensboro Four participated in and the events that happened
afterward, telling us how the idea spread to thousands of other students and other places across
the South.
3. Why does the author choose to begin his article with the narration of this event in
section 1? What is he trying to show?
He’s trying to paint a picture of how it was at the sit-in, trying to immerse readers in the event
rather than just having us read about it, as well as give us further understanding with a sort of
reference.
4. In the first paragraph of section 2, the author addresses a popular belief about the
power of social media. According to Gladwell, what are we being told about social
media? What is being offered as proof or examples (historical evidence) that social
media promotes change?
We’re told that social media is a means to unite people who may otherwise have nothing in
common, regardless of class, race, etc. Gladwell offers the examples of the protest against
Moldova’s communist government in 2009, aka the Twitter Revolution, and student protests in
Tehran, both which had protesters supposedly brought together through Twitter.
5. In the second paragraph of section 2, how does Gladwell argue against the position
he discusses in paragraph 1? What evidence does he use to refute (go against) the
evidence in paragraph 1 of section 2?
Gladwell uses the evidence that Twitter isn’t as significant as we thought in the country of
Moldova, even though their protest in 2009 was dubbed the Twitter Revolution, and that the
entire thing may have been staged or exaggerated by their government. The same for the student
protests in Tehran; the majority of those tweeting about the events weren’t in the country, and
the entire thing was mostly misunderstood by Western journalists.
6. In section 3, Gladwell discusses why some people are capable of “high-risk” activism
(activism that puts their lives and safety on the line). What are his conclusions?
Gladwell concludes that people who are capable of high-risk activism are able to bring people
they have strong or good ties with into the activism. They’re able to bring people that they know
and are able to communicate with in order to strengthen their protests as well as protect the
activists.
7. According to section 4, how is the kind of activism associated with social media
different from the high-risk activism described in section 3?
Social media is formed largely from “weak ties”, meaning that because it allows for you to keep
in touch with people you’d otherwise be unable to or ‘know’ thousands of people you don’t
actually know in real life, it’s harder to form strong ties that bind activism together. For instance,
groups that have been arrested and have had strong ties have been able to keep each other safe
and protected, while groups with weak ties are much less likely to do the same. High-risk
activism requires people you can trust, and because social media is so often built on weak ties,
it’s a lot more difficult to find a large amount of trustworthy and safe people for demonstrations
and protests.
8. Section 5 outlines more ways that high-risk activism is different from online
activism. According to this section, what does high-risk activism usually have that
online social networks don’t have?
High-risk activism generally has a centralized head, allowing for better strategizing and
organization, as well as keeping everyone tight and together, whereas online social networks are
generally very large and sprawling across the entire world, hindering a close tight bond that is
needed for high-risk activism.
9. Why, according to section 5, was the Civil Rights movement an example of high-risk
activism? What makes it high-risk?
The Civil Rights movement was an example of high-risk activism because everyone
10. Why does the writer in section 6 include the story of Evan and Ivanna using social
media to get back her lost/stolen phone?
11. According to the last two paragraphs of section 6, what is social media activism
good for and not good for?
12. Discuss the meaning (potentially more than one meaning) of the title “Small
Change.”