User:Christopher.R.Phillips/sandbox

In recent years, social media has lead to a change in how participatory democracy is conducted. In the 2016 election social media was used to spread news and many politicians used social media outlets like twitter to attract voters. Social media has been used to organize movements to demand change. Mainly through hashtags, citizens join political conversations with differing view points. To promote public interest and involvement, local governments are using social media to make decisions based on public feedback. Though it requires much commitment, citizens have organized committees to highlight local needs and appointing budget delegates who works with the citizens and city agencies.

In 2011, participatory democracy became a notable feature of the Occupy movement, a movement largely started by a Tumblr post titled "We Are the 99 Percent", protesting and claiming few individuals held all the power. Occupy camps around the world made decisions based on the outcome of working groups where every protestor gets to have their say, and by general assemblies where the decisions taken by working groups are effectively aggregated together. Their decision process was an attempt to combine equality, mass participation, and deliberation, but caused slow decisions. By November 2011 the movement had been frequently criticized for not yet coalescing around clearly identifiable aims.

In 2012 the Quebec Tuition Protests began. In response to the announcement by the provisional government of Quebec that the tuition would be raised, college students began to organize mostly on social media websites. Bill 78, passed to restrict protesting and demonstration due to violent interactions, also brought much attention to this movement.

In 2013 Black Lives Matter movement began organizing protest of the police brutality of African American teens in the United States. Trayvon Martin's death in a police shooting was the rallying point for the movement. The hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and #BLM were used on many social media outlets and sparked nationwide debate.