GOING TO WASHINGTON I’m overwhelmed with joy Shook told the more than 500,000 men and women who had gathered to march in Washington DC 7 A negative has been turned into a positive All these people coming together to unite to try and make a difference That’s what we’re going to be doing for the next four years 8 Others protested in their own towns and cities from Florida to Alaska and California to Maine in support of the Washington event Combined the protesters numbered more than four million estimate Chenoweth and Pressman Citizens in other regions across the globe also protested THE MARCHERS MARCH ON Shook didn’t intend for her efforts to stop with the 2017 march The march noted a Slate magazine article pulled more newbies into the political fold than any single event in U S history as voters organizers and candidates Although there were widespread Republican victories in the 2016 election author Christina Cauterucci points out that in the subsequent two years there was a surge of Democratic victories across the country along with more activism 9 Protests against guns and police brutality followed Furthermore Cauterucci credits the Women’s March with inspiring the MeToo movement in which scores of women revealed sexual harassment and abuse they had endured in the workplace and elsewhere Diverse groups have worked together following the march Rather than disbanding the Women’s March organization now has full-time employees to carry on the work Among their next areas of focus is registering voters 8
facebook 1 hacker way The sign at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park California features the company’s iconic thumbs-up symbol The success of the protest demonstrated people’s worries about Trump’s election his views and his behavior But it also showed something else the power of online social networks to get an idea rolling Many social change projects get their start on Facebook Companies have embraced it as well But its most frequent use comes from its vast network of individual users 9
users of millions 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2,500 FACEBOOK USERS 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 Facebook’s user count has grown steadily through the late 2010s With more than two billion users by 2018 the company now counts more than a quarter of the people on Earth as users of its service A GLOBAL SOCIAL NETWORK A project that began in a college dormitory originally meant to help college students connect with each other averaged 1 45 billion active users each day in 2018 and employed more than 27,000 people 10 Based in Menlo Park California Facebook has offices in 12 other US cities and more than 30 countries Although a user must be at least 13 to open an account children between ages 10
eight and 12 told researchers in 2011 that Facebook was their second most often visited site To include more of them Facebook introduced an application including parental controls called Messenger Kids This would help Facebook capture a fresh crop of teen and adult users in the future The social network’s success has made Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg one of the wealthiest people in the United States As of June 2018 he was worth approximately 79 billion 11 Facebook has become a household name It is loved and hated by people of every age group and background And at nearly every step of the way it has been awash in controversy 11
