Conrad Hackett 
80% of Black Americans said social media help shed light on rarely discussed issues; the same share of White Americans said these sites distract from more important issues.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/07/11/public-attitudes-toward-political-engagement-on-social-media/ #PewResearch #BlackMastodon @sociology
1. Public attitudes toward political engagement on social media

With the rise of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, along with others like #MeToo and #MAGA, a look at Twitter and Americans’ views on the impact of social media on political and civic engagement

Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech
Dec 10, 2022 at 4:47pmWeb
Show threadSueDec 10, 2022
@conradhackett @sociology not this white person.not a distraction at all.we must keep listening and learning until all r truly free
Show threadCatmama 🐈Dec 10, 2022
@conradhackett
Yet another instance where, in matters of race, the lived experiences of Blacks are not seen as important, or even real, by Whites. SMH.
Show threadShaneLeeDec 10, 2022
@conradhackett @sociology Our Communication with one another needs improvement - Face to face would bring us closer to understanding one another
Show threadUbergeekDec 10, 2022
@conradhackett @sociology sounds like white people consider the issues people of color have are "distractions".
Show threadBenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️Dec 13, 2022
@ubergeek @conradhackett @sociology Odd, that.
Show threadmiranda_lubbersDec 11, 2022
@conradhackett @sociology But for each statement, the majority (62-66%) of the other racial category agreed. Seems like approx half of the people agreed with both statements. 14 and 18% difference is still interesting, of course.
Show threadThatAuntieDec 11, 2022
@conradhackett @sociology The trend to watch, for me, is that of Latine alignment with dismissive White sentiment.
I believe (not theorize) the #BIPOC illusion will usher in a new kind of discrimination that will be socially sanctioned because "minorities."
Show threadYaDonkeyDec 11, 2022
@conradhackett @sociology I think police brutality is the biggest issue that social media has highlighted in a way nothing else could. It was easier to deny it's existence when there wasn't a new video of a horrific cop doing something heinous coming out every day. It has completely forced the brutality apologist to shift their entire narrative from "It doesn't exist" to "Ok, it exist but they deserve it" .. which even they know is BS reasoning.
Show threadMilo KeiDec 11, 2022

@YaDonkey @conradhackett @sociology

Trying to adopt Holmes invocation of optimism, we could also say the incidence of police worn body cameras has increased in response to public attention. I'd like to think this shows impact of quasi-social scientific work done on and by social media. The rise of tech (hand held phones in mass adoption) leads to the rise of tech implementations that are sometimes described as 'solutions' (body cams).

#optimism?

Show threadYaDonkeyDec 11, 2022
@milo @conradhackett @sociology Absolutely! We've seen a huge increase in police prosecutions as well (which is 100% tied to public backlash over the brutality). I think once they start prosecuting for failure to turn on body cams we'll finally be turning a corner in police reform.
Show threadPamela OliverDec 12, 2022
@YaDonkey @milo @conradhackett @sociology I'm having trouble parsing threads on here, but I'd like to say something about body cams, which is that some of the abolitionist groups oppose them. The reasons: (1) they are pointed at the community member, not the officer, and tend to give the officer's point of view; (2) the footage can be used as evidence for charging community members with offenses; (3) they give more $$ to police; (4) there are tons of issues about storing the footage. 1/2
Show threadPamela OliverDec 12, 2022
@YaDonkey @milo @conradhackett @sociology In short, body cams are not a panacea, there are good arguments both for and against from a "let's make the police accountable" point of view. 2/2
Show threadMilo KeiDec 12, 2022

@pamelaoliver @YaDonkey @conradhackett @sociology

Good points. I think as @YaDonkey has mentioned, the threshold for prosecution of officers for interfering with the cams needs to be very low coupled with explicit legislation around retention of data which may go some way to resolving some of the criticisms of body cams.

Your points stand though and I understand a plurality of voices on this one measure at more transparent policing. The fact that they are now ubiquitous shows that the social media exposure of brutality was met with a state response. Hopefully this also goes some way to changing the culture of a lot of law enforcement but is no where near the levels of change required by frankly revolting behaviour.

Show threadYaDonkeyDec 12, 2022

@pamelaoliver @milo @conradhackett @sociology I think those are all fair points, but I think the good body cams do in regards to encouraging better behavior from the officer (to some extent) and the evidence they provide when cops brutalize somebody far outweigh the potential negatives...

Of course it's all fairly moot if we don't address the lack of personal responsibility with law enforcement. If tax payers keep covering their brutality for them there's minimal incentive to change.