Author: Mehak Dua
Author Affiliation: Department of Journalism, Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi
Abstract: Social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and YouTube have swiftly transformed the way people enter into discussions, by allowing for plurality of thoughts and voices. It has also given a space to women unlike any other conventional media. Online communities, campaigns and hashtags have given women around the world a platform, where they raise their issues and actively participate in discourse around the same. They enable women in building communities transcending spatial and geographical bounds. This change in media landscape has allowed for an alternate public sphere where participation is open for all. Use of social media by women has helped mobilise attention and talk around the communities formed by them, addressing their causes and take them to a wider public base. This paper attempts to study how certain women have used the social media platforms to build communities and direct attention towards some of these causes and galvanize action online as well as offline.
Keywords: online communities, public sphere, alternate public sphere, women, social media, hashtags.