The term social media is defined as “forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). I had used social networking sites such as facebook and myspace but I had never posted up a blog online or had created a twitter account before my Latina feminist traditions class at LMU. It was really a completely different experience and one that definitely made me much more aware of the real meaning behind having such easy access, in a way, to the entire world.
I must admit that at first I was not sure why we had to go through all this trouble of writing out our thoughts online instead of simply typing up a paper and turning that in. Yet ironically enough, I learned in this class not to take such a means of communication for granted. Women way back in the 60’s had to struggle to make their voice be heard. They actually had to work hard and for long hours to make their words, thoughts and opinions available and accessible to a larger public. The Hijas de Cuauhtemoc had to work long hours to make newsletters in an attempt to raise consciousness and publish the issues that they thought were concerning the Latino community. They had to go through the trouble of typing, editing, revising, organizing, designing and then taking them to the printer to then make copies of the newsletters. Once all their copies were done, they had to go out and distribute these all in person to the audience they wanted to target. Every single story that they ever wanted to publish and share with a wider audience had to go through this entire process first.
Today however, everything we wish to share can go online and be viewed and read just a second later by a huge community of internet users. Things can be recorded and downloaded onto the internet instantaneously and while some may still take this for granted I have really learned to appreciate it. The way I think of blogging now is completely different, I cannot control the readers behind my posts, but at least I have the satisfaction that if someone was really interested in learning a little more about any of the topics I have written about, they will at the very least have access to reading more about it. As mentioned in class the other day, what good is your research if only your professor will get to read and learn from your paper, why not share your findings with a greater, broader audience and actually teach them all something new that you may not have known yourself before reading more on it.
We all have a story to share and I think it is important to share some of these because other people might really not be aware of such issues and concerns around the particular community you write about. Even now I type in Chicana feminism on a search engine and not many documents show up, yet amongst the few that come up, Dr. Perez’ CHST 404 class comes up and that alone opens the door to lots of information revolving around Chicana feminism and the issues that women of color have faced or still face today, including some of my pieces. Social media which is so easily accessible to us now is something that we should all take advantage of, we can share the stories and thoughts or concerns that go around our community and make others aware of the issues we face, question or simply want to inform others of or highlight around our community. We all end up reading other someone else’s side of the story, so why not share our own.