Advocacy group

Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups usage various forms of advocacy in structure to influence public opinion together with ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developing of political in addition to social systems.

Motives for action may be based on political, religious, moral, or commercial positions. Groups use varied methods to try totheir aims, including lobbying, media campaigns, awareness raising publicity stunts, polls, research, and policy briefings. Some groups are supported or backed by effective group or political interests and exert considerable influence on the political process, while others clear believe few or no such(a) resources.

Some form developed into important social, political institutions or social movements. Some powerful advocacy groups have been accused of manipulating the democratic system for narrow commercial gain and in some instances have been found guilty of corruption, fraud, bribery, and other serious crimes; Some groups, generally ones with less financial resources, may usage direct action and civil disobedience and in some cases are accused of being a threat to the social structure or 'domestic extremists'. Research is beginning to study how advocacy groups use social media to facilitate civic engagement and collective action.

Social media use

Apart from lobbying and other methods of asserting political presence, advocacy groups use social media to attract attention towards their specific cause. A discussing published in early 2012 suggests that advocacy groups of varying political and ideological orientations operating in the United States are using social media to interact with citizens every day. The study surveyed 53 groups, that were found to be using a manner of social media technologies toorganizational and political goals:

As identified in the study, "while some groups raised doubts approximately social media's ability to overcome the limitations of weak ties and generational gaps, an overwhelming majority of groups see social media as necessary to innovative advocacy work and laud its democratizing function."

Another 2012 study argued that advocacy groups use social media toaudiences unrelated to the communities they assist and to mobilize diverse groups of people. Mobilization is achieved in four ways:

"1. Social media assist connect individuals to advocacy groups and thus can strengthen outreach efforts.

2. Social media help promote engagement as they permits engaging feedback loops.

3. Social media strengthen collective action efforts through an increased speed of communication.

4. Social media are cost-effective tools that offers advocacy organizations to do more for less."

While these studies show the acceptance of social media use by advocacy groups, populations not affiliated with media advocacy often question the benevolence of social media. Rather than exclusively fostering an atmosphere of camaraderie and universal understanding, social media can perpetuate power hierarchies. More specifically, social media can render "a means of reproducing power to direct or build and fulfilling group interest for those possessing excessive power... [having the potential to] indirectly reinforce elitist domination." By excluding those without access to the internet, social media inherently misrepresents populations- particularly the populations in low-income countries. Since media advocacy groups use social media as a way to boost the narratives of these populations, the effect of social media use can be counteractive to well-intentioned goals. Instead of directly amplifying the voices and narratives of historically marginalized populations, social media magnifies their concerns through the perspective of individuals with access to the internet.

Since advocacy groups have the organization to domination a community's narrative through a social media post, they have the company to authority the deservedness of a community as well. That is, the amount of resources or attention a community receives largely depends on the quality of narrative an advocacy group curates for them on social media.