Sports and Social Media
Not many people who don't follow sports would know who Zlatan Ibrahimovic is. To make this short and sweet he is known for his extraordinary ability on the field to score goals and his highly colorful attitude on and off the field. If you would like to know what I mean go to Youtube and search "Ibrahimovic top 30 quotes" and I am sure it will be abundantly clear.
Although his eccentric personality would be a great topic to write about that's not as important as what he did this past week. If you are someone who follows the world's most popular sport, soccer, you would know that this week the star goal scorer tattooed 50 starving people's names on his body to make people aware of an increasingly prominent issue. World hunger. He tattooed (temporarily) these people's names onto his body to raise awareness that an astonishing 805 million people are suffering from hunger.
I know what you are thinking, what's the big deal and how does this relate to anything we have been talking about in our class? I would argue that the media, sports, and social networking apps and websites work somewhat collectively so spread news, ideas, memes, etc. Using these various methods athletes have an astonishing ability to be able to influence people in the way they behave and think. For example if people actually look at his page 21,462,015 follow him only on Facebook. Realistically, if 10% of those people took action and began food drives or donations of even as little as $5.00 each they would provide an astonishing $10,731,007.50 to feed the 805 million people who are starving every day. That looks and sounds so insignificant but when put in perspective something compared to nothing is always better.
To sum up why I this is worth talking about there are a couple points I would like to touch on. First I think that people may not be moved to do things simply by seeing their idols doing it. However, I think that some athletes, musicians, comedians, etc. do hold an image of their own that others try to emulate. Therefore when they do things for a good cause it drives some people to follow their example and could inevitably lead to change. Secondly social media, the media, the internet and other sources can provide means to spread information that could change peoples' lives if used responsibly. I think this inevitably is what we need to decide: how are we to use these means responsibly? or What does it mean to use technology responsibly?
I've often thought about the fact when I use social media, it is an opportunity to publicize any idea to your followers. The fact that these celebrity accounts have millions of followers is an incredible power to have, and one that I feel like is rarely used for things of importance. More often than not it seems like that connection to millions of fans is used for self promotion or highlight irresponsible actions. You make a good point about people taking the lead from their celebrity idols, especially I think when it comes to social media which presents a genuine celebrity to fan connection which I feel is a stronger motivator than other media, like interviews or advertisements. The internet has really changed what being a celebrity means, and I think some realize the influence they possess.
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