What Can I Do? How to Use Social Media to Improve Democratic Society

Debate abounds about the implications of social media use for democratic societies. Do social media help us connect with people we don’t know or do they exacerbate existing divisions between individuals and groups? Are they a space for misinformation to spread easily and rapidly, or an opportunity for individuals and organizations to correct misperceptions before they become entrenched in the public consciousness? Do they simply lead to low-effort engagement, or can they train us to more effectively participate in other spaces?
This debate focuses on social media as they exist currently, but social media are constantly evolving and changing to meet our needs. There is much that we can do as citizens of a democratic society to make social media use more constructive for ourselves and others. This essay outlines a few concrete steps that we can take as individuals to boost the democratic potential of social media