#BLACKLIVESMATTER:
The voice of the silents
The Black
Lives Matter movement, an international activist movement that has generates
the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, is a very popular movement, and very beneficial opportunity
for public relations practitioners. The Hashtag explicitly denounces the
anti-black racism that leads to discrimination of all kinds and murders. As a
public relations practitioner, you must use this hashtag with great care as it
raises a delicate story.
Pain and anger
The Black
Lives Matter movement, followed by their hashtag, reached its peak in 2017,
when a 17-year-old boy, unarmed, was shot by US white police.
Also, of the
987 people killed by the American police, nearly a quarter were black, and
twelve of them were minors. You understand easily the frustration that the
black people must feel.
The birth of
this deep but powerful hashtag has awakened the humanism of many people around
the world. Whether it's through anger, sadness or support ...
What are the
advantages or disadvantages of social media for a public relations
practitioner?
Advantages
• On social web, we can reach more
people. We can continually sensitize people about racism, we can reach their
heart and their minds.
• The fact that people are active
on social media is beneficial, because they are reactive, and then public
relations practitioners can know what they think about subjects such as the
treatment of black people.
• The key influencers makes to
public relations practitioners an idea on what is followed, liked or disliked
on social media. This is important to know who are the major actors of the
Black Lives Matter movement.
Disadvantages
• Social media may be time
intensive, because the public relations practitioners have to always be aware
on what is said, what is thought now, how people feel about something. For a public relations practitioners it could
be tiresome.
• Because #BlackLivesMatter is a
very fragile topic, people can become unreceptive or totally agressive.
Misunderstanding can easily occur and create an explosive bad buzz.
• People are often unstoppable.
Once they are engaged with a cause, it may be difficult to target them if they
have an only idea on something. They may be so much touched by the anti Black
racism that they can themselves become racist, unfortunately.
And the
recommendations?
I recommend
to public relations practitioners to not only recognize that this hashtag supports
an too often repressed community, and it is delicate as well as powerful. It
permits also to reach a certain type of people, so using this hashtag could be
very beneficial.








