I think social media movements can be very powerful in raising awareness about an issue, whether I agree with that issue or not. Social media allows people all over the world to connect and shed a light on an issue. I think these movements could be anything to something positive, such as the marriage between Prince William and Kate, or something negative such as the Stop Joseph Kony movement.
Personally, I have never been too involved in a movement via social media. The only occurrence that comes to mind is the wedding of Prince William and Kate. I woke up very early and watched the wedding on live television, and also tweeted and re-tweeted about her dress, the music, the wedding party, etc. I love weddings. I love movies about weddings and wedding planning, so why not get up really early to watch the most anticipated wedding of the century and share and talk about it via social media with thousands of other royal wedding fanatics?
I think that personal connection and emotion causes someone to join or start a social media movement. For example, a few years ago I remember the huge “Stop Joseph Kony” movement that happened. There were posters, postcards, chalk work, tweets, Facebook posts… the whole nine yards. People found out about the horrific things happeneing to young children in Uganda and were livid. An online video was made to make this war criminal famous, and it did just that. This video was shared all over social media, making this video the fastest growing viral video of all time. 3.7 million people pledged their support for efforts to arrest Joseph Kony (invisiblechildren.com/kony).
I did not participate in this movement, but I did watch the video and I did feel the emotional tug to participate. Using emotion is a successful way to start a movement via social media. I don’t use social media to voice my complaints or opinions because I feel that can be a little childish sometimes. Organizations can definitely benefit from this because they could use a “movement” as a tool to raise awareness about their organization. They can also use a hashtag to promote their brand in order to see how many tweets are being tweeted about their organization. At the same time, it can be negative. Someone can tweet or post about a bad experience with a brand or organization and it can go viral. It can be both a positive and a negative move for an organization, they just need to be careful in how they implement the movement.
Maika Elizabeth 
I agree with your stance on not being overly involved, and I think I may be the only female on the planet who didnt wake up everyday to see the latest on the Royal Wedding
Hi Maika, I absolutely love William and Kate, too! I have to say I did not get up early (I don’t have that dedication level like you do) but I did watch it later in the day when it was on at a reasonable hour in America. Wedding movies are always the best! I wish I would have been more involved in the Royal Wedding by posting via social media.
I also remember the Joseph Kony thing. I didn’t get too involved with that just because it is such a dark subject; but I am glad to hear that it got such a good response level.
I too, woke up extremely early to watch the Royal Wedding live. I even watched it again later that day. I also watched all of the Kony videos, but did not partake in the movement. Organizations, like you said can benefit from utilizing social media to create a movement for their brand. However, I feel that it has to be an emotional or heart felt movement; it cannot just be a way for a company or brand to gain likes and followers.
Maikaaaa I totally agree with you that social media is THE way to get word to spread nowadays. When I first saw all Kony stuff I had no idea what everyone was talking about. Then I looked at a few more tweets with links on them, read the story, and like everyone else was completely outraged. I’m sure that social media will continue be a valuable resource for those wanting to voice their opinions and make changes.
I also woke up super early to watch the Royal Wedding! I wasn’t really “active” on social media about it, though. I think I may have tweeted about it, but that’s about it.
I love how you mentioned the Royal Wedding! That was basically a movement. I also have not personally been involved with a movement online, I have yet to feel emotionally powerful enough to do so. I also mentioned KONY in my blog. That was the first movement that popped into mind when writing this blog post.