A few days before TRAI pronounced a verdict in favour of net neutrality, you wouldn’t have missed a Facebook notification that read “Your friend has shared his opinion on the I Support Freebasics campaign. You too can do that.” While a few responded to that, some production houses had video/meme campaigns raise awareness of the issues , some differed and some nodded. Amidst this, social media is living up to the original intent of building a strong opinion amidst the randomness. This is aided in large part by a user who, more often than not, had preferred to be a part of a herd, but was gradually moving away from token gestures to taking a stand on what interested him/her.
Many turns
It began with occasion-specific campaigns on FB that (on days like January 1, Friendship Day and birthdays) had a collage of videos/images one shared, got tagged over the year.
There was curiosity that hogged people’s attention in the former that kept them attracted to the platform. Just like the fascination of a new accessory that dies in a while, many have given up on it with a sense of passé in due course. “Be it any of these personalised videos that shows about the people in their friend/follower list, how many of them actually meet them or interact in reality?” T Charan, a netizen questions.
The notification that shows you’ve ‘voted’, a couple of years ago, gave this trend a social shift. In fact, this became so popular that several began predicting poll-winners before even the counting had begun with social media statistics. Any form of protest, the reactions were to play safe with a minority going the other way.
Several instances
The ‘profile-picture’ supporting movement, across the country approximately began during the times of Anna Hazare, where people voiced their opinions through a picture change. This went more viral during the gay pride day, when the US Supreme Court came with a ruling that considered gay marriage legal in the nation. This had globally changing their profile pictures to that of a rainbow tinted version as a matter of universal support for the ruling. This extended to other natural occurrences including deaths, Hudhud, Chennai Floods, Paris-terror attack where people changed their DP’s unanimously to voice support.
Kiranmayee Madupu, a dancer, who’s also into social media management, sees a pattern developing here. “Firstly, we come across people who are ‘for’ something they’re sharing, later the ones against the topic show up. As the discussion goes deeper, the crowd that prefers to stay neutral asks people to move on. Nevertheless, all of them commonly want to be heard, feel different from the rest,” she says.
Charan, meanwhile believing the herd mentality is still existent opines, “In cases where it ensures awareness, say the Paris attack or LGBT pride, the trend is alright. However, these things lose validity when it’s done for each and every incident. It almost signifies the lack of an original thought. For any of the campaigns, there’s no real authenticity whenever they talk facts.”
The snub campaigns
What the snub campaigns have necessarily done is to equal the crowds and show them reasons, letting them decide things for themselves. Some have done it in a tone that showcases a tone of sarcasm on the blind followers. Examples of a few lines in the memes read “Brace yourself, gay pride statuses are coming”, “Ask me one more time if I voted FB?”AIB had also made a video to clarify what net neutrality was all about before a user goes on to voice his/her opinion on Freebasics. These have been very critical in ensuring an informed opinion besides some harmless humour, Kiranmayee agrees.
