Use of Digital Tools in Grassroots Movements

Use of Digital Tools in Grassroots Movements
Governments can benefit significantly from using digital media tools such as social media to communicate with the public. A majority of citizens have access to social media platforms and rely on them for news and information. Governments must use digital media tools to share information with the public. According to Maziashvili et al. (2022), digital media tools give governments the ability to respond to the public and become more user-driven effectively. This is especially important during crises where the public requires quick, real-time, and regular information about the crisis and what the government is doing to address the crisis. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, governments used digital media tools such as social media for official updates about the pandemic and what the public needed to do to protect itself. Governments should embrace the use of these tools now more than ever because people tend to seek information from social media more often than in the past (Maziashvili et al., 2022). This is vital because other sources of information on social media can be misinformed. However, information on government official social media sites is more credible, thus allowing the public access to credible information.
Digital media tools have changed how organizers mobilize activists and shape public opinions on significant issues at the grassroots levels. Grassroots movements can also use hashtags to mobilize people and create awareness about specific social problems that require change. According to Leong et al. (2019), social media is a source of empowerment for the powerless. Social media gives them a voice and the ability to mobilize their resources to create change from the community to the national or global level. It is also a sustainable tool for grassroots mobilization, especially now that many people are turning to social media to stay current with what is going on in their communities and around the world. As such, social media and other digital tools can help grassroots mo...