Media and nonviolent actions
That's definitely a good point and one that I agree with, but one has to consider at what cost a movement suffers when gaining public attention. Take for instance, the whole "Kony 2012" movement from 4 years ago that was spread at a viral rate on Facebook. No doubt people were aware of the issue and it was widespread on social media, but beyond violent/non-violent action, the amount of support that it received amounted to ultimately nothing – sometimes awareness is not enough to make people take any action at all. However, if we assume that people are not merely "social media activists", and actually willing to take action, then I do agree that the power of social media is needed to spread awareness.
I think it would also be important to note that by being part of social media, we are bombarded with all kinds of activism. I think many would identify themselves as participating as an activist as they "like" or "share" things, but in reality it is not really making much of a difference outside of the social media sphere. And in many instances, it may not entirely reflect their values. In my mind media can be used as a stepping stone to bring awareness to an issue and hopefully, in turn bring together a group of like minded people to bring forth physical change. Some of these groups choose to be non-violent while others use violence, but in order to actually create change, there has to be a shift in policy and I think policy changes can be brought about without the use of violence but education, cooperation and unity.
Reading through some of the discussion comments, it seems that we are coming together to support social activism online and through frames of social media but in actuality, individuals are content to stay at home. I think it might be because of an almost mob mentality where individuals start posting regarding the issue and nobody wants to see left out so they also post in support. But the extra push to get people out there is another step that has yet to be solved. Media activism is a very quick and efficient way to generate news about a growing issue but if we want actual support at say a rally or anything, one might have to pursue other methods