Social media boon for youth uprising

When 26-year-old Karan Chawla, a resident of Andheri who was disturbed by the Delhi gang rape incident, created a page on Facebook inviting friends for a candlelight march near his house in Malad, little did he know that people would turn up in thousands.

“I created the page with some close friends and invited a few friends. But then, word spread on Facebook and many people commented, joined and supported the cause.” He added that more than 80% people were young and came voluntarily. “If I had publicised the same via e-mail or word of mouth, the impact wouldn’t have been the same,” he said.

Today, many youngsters are relying on social media to start movements and protest for their rights. A student, on condition of anonymity, said, “A few months back in our college a student was suspended on unfair grounds. One of my seniors created a page protesting against the college management's move. This went viral and had a lot of students commenting and reacting vociferously. It finally led the management to bring the student back.”

Shurbhi Sharma, 18, of city-based youth NGO, We the People, says, “Our NGO was started last year as a movement on Facebook against the Keenan and Ruben killings. We had more than 60,000 people in the group. About six months ago, we decided to take it to the next level and register the organisation as an NGO.” She added that every protest and campaign led by them was successful because of its presence in the social media.

MBA student Shailesh Vora, 24, says, “Social media is dynamic and cheap. It is where people who don’t even open up otherwise get to speak up. It is a trigger to do more. I’d put my thoughts on the Anna Hazare movement and even on the Iraq attacks on Twitter. The response I got was enormous. This motivates me to blog, have informal debates and discussions on such issues in college, etc.”
Srikanth Reddy, a 29-year-old management professional who went for rallies following the Delhi gang rape, says, “I kept getting invites for protests, all started by youngsters across the city. I went to the one in Lokhandwala market and came back to put up my picture lighting the candles as part of the march as my profile picture.”