The effect of social media on Arab spring Research Proposal

The effect of social media on Arab spring - Research Proposal Example Social media diffuse social, economic, political, and cultural barriers within the society (Qualman 8). The speedy propagation and adoption of technology has fueled the use of social media as a tool for activism. The Arab Spring in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Syria, and Yemen demonstrate this potential. During the Arab Spring, social media played a critical role in spreading information and unifying the protesters. Social media can be defined as online media content created and shared by individuals on the cyberspace using freely and easily accessible websites. The websites employ interfaces that enable people to generate and post images, videos, as well as chat and text information. The created information can be shared with a select group of friends or the entire public domain. Social media incorporate blogs, wikis, forums, content communities, micro blogs, social networking sites, and podcasts. Social media detail characteristics such as participation, whereby individuals make contributions and receive feedback from the target groups. Similarly, it also incorporates openness, whereby social media encourage participation and feedback from all through voting, commenting, and sharing of information. Thirdly, it involves conversation, whereby social media is two-way contrasting broadcast oriented traditional media. The community aspect arises from allowing people to mutually share universal interests such as art and politics. Lastly, social media enhance connectedness by linking people, sites, locations, and resources. To a large extent, social media enhance democratization of information; transforming users from content readers to content publishers (Al-Deen & Hendricks 205). Social media effects can be classified into behavioural, attitudinal, cognitive, and emotional. Social media play a key role in the learning and social

Rebuttal - Why Marijuana should be Legal in the US Essay

Rebuttal - Why Marijuana should be Legal in the US - Essay Example a striking difference can be seen as the results of the poll in 2011 put forward the fact that 50 percent of the Americans wanted marijuana to be legalized now (Carey 2011). The legalization of marijuana has sparked many debates as many benefits of this legalization have been put forward and demands for the revision of the legislation with regard to marijuana has been demanded. The Huffington Post reported the stand of the White House on the issue of the legalization of marijuana. The White House declared the fact that marijuana was a drug which carried many disadvantages and they could not legalize the drug as it would bring much harm to the society. The White House indicated the fact that the government was spending much on research with regard to marijuana and they did not find any strong research that upheld the benefits of this drug. It was further claimed that marijuana resulted in health issues which included â€Å"addiction, respiratory disease, and cognitive impairment.† It was also stated that legalizing of marijuana would not result in any benefit for the community and would rather cause harm to the society (Graves 2011). The benefits of marijuana have been upheld by many groups who consider that legalization of marijuana would result in many positive effects. The use of marijuana in medicine has been one of the most important benefits of the drug. The California Medical Association upheld this stand and put forward the fact that marijuana should be made legal. The Association indicated the fact that advantages of this legalization were much higher than the disadvantages. They also upheld the fact that marijuana was helpful in the relief of pain and thus it should be made legal and regulations should be imposed on drug distribution rather than putting a ban on it (York 2011). The President of Columbia also put forward the fact that the legalization of marijuana had many advantages and he explained that the drug should be made legal throughout the