Facebook, which was launched in 2004 by a Harvard college student, Mark Zuckerberg, is one of the leading social media platforms not only in the United States but also across the globe. In reference to Kallas (2018), Facebook currently has 2.23 billion monthly active users. Whereas this social media platform began as a channel for people to chat with each other as well as share pictures and videos, it has since improved to include other features such as the pages and groups, which allow people with specific interests to talk about different issues that concern their lives. Speaking from this perspective, Facebook, as a social media platform has helped promote the rise and flourishing of different movements in society, which, through their messages, has managed to attract the attention of both the public at large as well as political policymakers in different societies across the globe. This study therefore evaluates whether Facebook as a social media platform, has been instrumental in enhancing the public sphere in the modern society. Importantly, the study will consider movements such as #BlackLivesMatter and the Arab Spring, which depended on Facebook to gain attention of people from different walks of life not only in specific geographical regions but also on a global scale.
Facebook于2004年由哈佛大学学生马克·扎克伯格（Mark Zuckerberg）创办，它不仅是美国的领先社交媒体平台之一，也是全球领先的社交媒体平台之一。参考Kallas（2018），Facebook目前每月有22.3亿活跃用户。这一社交媒体平台一开始是人们相互聊天以及分享图片和视频的渠道，但后来它又改进为包括页面和群组等其他功能，允许有特定兴趣的人谈论与其生活相关的不同问题。从这个角度讲，Facebook作为一个社交媒体平台，帮助推动了不同社会运动的兴起和繁荣，这些运动通过它们的信息吸引了广大公众以及全球不同社会的政治决策者的注意力。因此，这项研究评估了Facebook作为社交媒体平台是否有助于提升现代社会的公共领域。重要的是，这项研究将考虑诸如“BaseLeaveSeSt物质”和“阿拉伯之春”这样的运动，它依赖于脸谱网，不仅在特定的地理区域，而且在全球范围内都得到来自不同阶层的人们的关注。
Key issues and problems from the case 案例中的关键问题和问题
To begin with, one of the issues that emerge in the evaluation of the relationship between social media platforms such as Facebook and the championing for human rights and freedom regards whether this platform provides for free exchange of information and ideas. According to Nicolai et al. (2017), Facebook is one of the social media channels that provide users with a platform to freely share their ideas, and constantly allow different groups with a certain interest to self-organise themselves as well as adapt quickly to different challenges that emerge, thus strengthening the way different ideas evolve over time. In other words, unlike the mainstream media such as the television and the radio, which mainly focus on one-way communication to the masses, Facebook provides a platform for the entire public to make a contribution, and evolve with time to ensure different ideas are accommodated with time.
首先，在评估Facebook等社交媒体平台与倡导人权和自由之间的关系时出现的一个问题是，该平台是否提供了信息和思想的自由交流。根据Nicolai等人（2017年）的说法，Facebook是一种社交媒体渠道，它为用户提供了一个自由分享想法的平台，并不断允许具有一定兴趣的不同群体自我组织，并快速适应出现的不同挑战，从而加强了不同想法随时间演变的方式。换句话说，与电视和广播等主要关注与大众单向沟通的主流媒体不同，Facebook为整个公众提供了一个做出贡献的平台，并随着时间的推移而发展，以确保不同的想法随着时间的推移而适应。
For example, in reference to the development of the Black Lives Matter movement, Palfrey and Gasser (2016) observes that the movement started after Alicia Garza and her friends shared the message with a hash tag, #BlackLivesMatter, in response to the acquittal of Goerge Zimmerman, a neighbourhood coordinator who had shot and killed Trayvon Martin, a seventeen-year-old teenager in Florida. Note that this hash tag caught the attention of different people across United States, leading to the formation of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has been vocal in promoting the aspect that the lives of black people matter just as much as the lives of the white people (Carney, 2016). Note that through the use of Facebook, this group enjoys uncensored freedom to engage in different argument concern the rights and freedom of the black people in the United States, freedom that cannot enjoyed in a mainstream media environment. Importantly, social media in this particular case has been instrumental in providing space for discussion on whether the police killings in the United States that involves white policemen killing black people were motivated by race and if that is the case, the policies that can be implemented to stop such killings.
例如，关于黑人生命物质运动的发展，Palfrey和Gasser（2016）观察到，这场运动是在Alicia Garza和她的朋友们用散列标签“BlackLivesMatter”分享信息后开始的，这是对开枪打死Trayvon Martin的社区协调员Goerge Zimmerman无罪释放的回应，佛罗里达州一名17岁的少年。请注意，这个散列标签引起了美国各地不同人群的注意，导致了“黑人生命物质运动”的形成，该运动一直在宣传黑人生命与白人生命同等重要的观点（Carney，2016）。请注意，通过使用Facebook，该群体享有未经审查的自由，可以参与与美国黑人权利和自由有关的不同争论，这是主流媒体环境中无法享受的自由。重要的是，社交媒体在这起特殊案件中发挥了重要作用，为讨论美国警察杀人事件（涉及白人警察杀害黑人）是否出于种族动机提供了空间，如果是这样的话，可以实施哪些政策来制止此类杀人事件。