Can Social Media News Encourage Activism? The Impact of Discrimination News Frames on College Students’ Activism Intentions

• Main Authors: Marisa A. Smith, Lillie D. Williamson, Cabral A. Bigman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2020-06-01
• Series: Social Media + Society
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120921366

The marginalization of African Americans is a pervasive issue in American society. As African Americans are left on the fringes of economic, social, and political resources, social media news offers the potential for motivating action that combats the institutional policies contributing to societal disparities. Utilizing the lens of the Anger Activism Model (AAM), this experiment recruited undergraduate participants ( N  = 198) and tested the effects of implicit and explicit discrimination news frames on activism intentions. The findings indicate that news frames directly impact reported levels of activism intentions among college students. Unexpectedly, we found racial differences in perceptions of whether the news stories involved racial discrimination. The implications of these findings are discussed considering social media news, marginalization, and activism among college students.