Reflection on Social Media Case 6: Basketball Cop

I love the positivity that can come out of social media.  The story about ‘The Basketball Cop” is impactful not only for the amazing story that it is, but also that it was shared and made viral by social media.  It is easy to find flaws in social media platforms and it often has a bad reputation for spreading ‘fake news’.  But this particular story was only shared and made accessible because of social media.

The sharing wasn’t the most impactful part in my opinion.  What really shocked me was that social media made it possible to help repair the relationship between a cautious community and local law enforcement.  Officer White made a choice to use positivity and a cool head to diffuse a situation rather than the alternative.  Because of modern technology he had a dashboard camera which helped capture this moment which the police department then shared with no expectations.

That is the beauty of something going viral organically.  Most people are completely unsuspecting when they post something of a positive nature.  But with the help and power of social media good things can be spread across the world rapidly.  Social media also made it possible for Shaquille O’Neal to see the story, reach out, and start a campaign to advocate for community/law enforcement relations. Ultimately the campaign has raised just under 65,000 dollars.

I agree that oftentimes it is easy to get caught up in the negative side effects of social media, but stories like this renew my faith in it as a whole.   The moral of this blog post is trust in social media. Let it be a positively influenced part of your life. Use it to share happiness. Don’t get too caught up in gossip and fake celebrity news stories. Let it be a force for good!