Michael Brown’s shooting in Ferguson lost on social media
As protests erupted in Ferguson, Mo., following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, many went to social media outlets for news and information, only to find that much content seemed to be missing from their streams.
Before reporters with national profiles arrived in Missouri, pictures of the militarized police presence in the area were circulating on Twitter, showing armed vehicles, snipers, rubber bullets and tear gas being used against protesters.
For those on Twitter, particularly people following journalists and community activists across the United States and Canada, the news about Ferguson was pervasive.
Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini), a strategist with echeloninsight.comwho specializes in digital analytics, tweeted a graph showing the rapid growth of posts on Twitter using #Ferguson on August 13. His graph shows that the conversation grew from zero tweets to almost 4,000 within nine hours.
However, on Facebook a different trend emerged.
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About the Author
Sima Sahar Zerehi is a professor, journalist, new media buff, photographer in training, Unifor member & immigration/labour/human rights activist who really wants to be an artist.
