#Rewind2015: Social media as a force for good

Hashtags became powerful rallying cries and an effective means to mobilise mass support and spread awareness on key issues.

Vicious 'trolls' and unending reels of selfies and pictures of the mundane on social media timelines can get unnerving.

But the silliness and futility aside, there have been several instances this year that saw the all-pervading social media being used for good.

Hashtags became powerful rallying cries and an effective means to mobilise mass support and spread awareness on key issues.

Here, we take you through some of the most influential moments online that restored hope in humanity in a year marked by rising conflict and hostility.

1) #JeSuisCharlie

The January attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo and the one in Paris in November were the most talked about events on Twitter this year, according to a blog post published by the platform.

The series of coordinated attacks on November 13 saw the resurgence of the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie, harking back to the event that took place in the City of Lights only 10 months prior that saw terrorists barge into the Paris office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people.

The meaning of the phrase went beyond just expressing solidarity with the victims as it became a defiant slogan upholding the freedom of expression. In less than a week, the use of the hashtag crossed 6.6 million times.

[UPDATE] 6,63M de Tweets de solidarité #JeSuisCharlie. Pic de 6230 Tweets le 7 janvier à 21h30 http://t.co/eTyiygN4LU pic.twitter.com/Kay6VY5qzg

— Twitter France (@TwitterFrance) January 12, 2015

[CARTE INTERACTIVE] Retour sur 2 jours de #JeSuisCharlie dans le monde entier... #Solidarité http://t.co/dwbXlMX9gh pic.twitter.com/N3IFxN6Vdr

— Twitter France (@TwitterFrance) January 9, 2015

A terrible day for all cartoonists. #JeSuisCharlie pic.twitter.com/Ksbl89WLsE

— Magnus Shaw (@TheMagnusShaw) January 7, 2015

What Do We Have Left, if The Sound Of Silence is The Only One We Are Allowed To Make ?#JeSuisCharlie 💔...🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/BU3Pmp6bJT

— SOSHY (@soshy) January 7, 2015

#JeSuisCharlie tribute to #CharlieHebdo at #AFP news room in Paris pic.twitter.com/J1vTDttDwg

— AFP Photo Department (@AFPphoto) January 7, 2015

Fabulous RT"@RteeFufkin: Well, today's #doodleaday was a no-brainer... #JeSuisCharlie pic.twitter.com/yBteoBQogx"

— Andreu Escrivà (@AndreuEscriva) January 7, 2015

Pretty incredible reaction around the world! Everyone deserves free speech! 🇫🇷 💪 #CharlieHebdo #JeSuisCharlie pic.twitter.com/Z8jd8EVw8e

— Cally Salter (@CallySalter) January 7, 2015

Can't sleep tonight, thoughts with my French cartooning colleagues, their families and loved ones #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/LqIMRCHPgK

— David Pope (@davpope) January 7, 2015

2) #PorteOuverte

The Paris attacks in November also gave rise to the hashtag #PorteOuverte, which means open doors. It was used by Parisians to extend support to others who were stranded in the city after the multiple attacks.

Hey tourists in #Paris if you need help or some place to sleep around Jussieu 5th arrondissement, my door is open. #PorteOuverte #OpenDoor

— Thomas Nigro (@ThomasNigro) November 13, 2015

#porteouverte send me a message for a safe place in canal Saint Martin. Please be safe

— Florian Duretz (@duretzflo) November 13, 2015

My Friends are safe, in a random woman's home. She's making them dinner, & preparing beds. Blessed. #PorteOuverte

— TK Westfield (@TWestfield) November 13, 2015

The concept of #PorteOuverte, the idea of people opening up their homes tonight to help strangers, is the best thought to go to bed on.

— Stig Abell (@StigAbell) November 14, 2015

3) #ChennaiRainsHelp

The effectiveness of a Twitter hashtag in crowdsourcing help was also made evident during the unseasonal rains that hit Tamil Nadu this year. What began as a few helpful tweets extending support to the homeless in Chennai became Google spreadsheets and websites that collated where food, shelter and medical support were available.

#chennairains #chennairainshelp Near Mogappair East do call me 9043156777 for accommodation 7 to 10 people @MusicThaman @ynakg @rkramya

— Kalyan Raj (@appukalyan) December 1, 2015

Sunder +91 90421 17888 Agaram volunteer has a boat n rescuing people in T nagar! Pls get in touch for help!

— Suriya Sivakumar (@Suriya_offl) December 3, 2015

technology is amazing. Strangers met, made https://t.co/DFMY3b1JW9, shared, helped. Feel hopeful, like all good things are possible.

— Sowmya Rao (@sowmyarao_) December 2, 2015

(@madaraasi on Twitter)

(@madaraasi on Twitter)

Radha the milk maid who carried on with a usual morning routine. One of the images that went viral on Twitter during the floods.

4) #NepalQuakeRelief

The massive earthquake that struck Nepal in April was one natural disaster that saw social networking platforms being used to disseminate information and help local teams coordinate their relief efforts. Twitter promoted the hashtag #NepalQuakeRelief and linked it to the account @InCrisisRelief.

Scores of individuals and organisations made use of social media to mobilise volunteers and funding to help the millions affected by the earthquake that measured 7.8 on the Richter scale.

The complete What, Where & How of #NepalQuakeRelief donations. Pls note the specifics while donating. pic.twitter.com/WApiMWhZaG

— VOICE@InCrisisRelief (@InCrisisRelief) April 27, 2015

If you'd like to help the cause of #NepalQuakeRelief, here's some more information courtesy @InCrisisRelief pic.twitter.com/F3sFwIrQcX

— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) April 27, 2015

Current map of our work in #NepalQuakeRelief: 4 installations, 10 assessments, many more requests for safe water. pic.twitter.com/VlE9uX3dqa

— Water Mission (@water_mission) June 3, 2015

We need your help to support our #NepalQuakeRelief efforts! Learn more & pls share: http://t.co/2FnMSzQSGK pic.twitter.com/ztOefE0bo2

— GlobalFund4Children (@GFCnews) June 2, 2015

#NepalQuakeRelief This woman said: thanks for the rice, but can we get seeds for our fields? Our seeds are destroyed! pic.twitter.com/YJT0oJ6XyX

— SAR DOGS NEPAL (NFP) (@sardogsnepal) May 29, 2015

Online campaigns championing gender equality also featured prominently this year. Trends that went viral worldwide such as #HackAHairDryer and #DistractinglySexy tackled sexist comments by individuals and institutions that discriminated against women working in the fields of science and technology.

The latter phrase was used by women scientists in response to Nobel laureate Tim Hunt's suggestion that there ought to be 'single-sex' labs as 'girls' cause men to fall in love with them and cry when criticised.

#HackAHairDryer was an attempt by tech giant IBM to encourage more women to get interested in technology. But it backfired as women working in science, technology, engineering and maths or STEM careers condemned the campaign as patronising and sexist.

It's just really hard working in a coed lab because I'm too distracting to the male scientists #distractinglysexy pic.twitter.com/9cZMUpy6TL

— Danielle Spitzer (@dspitzzz) June 11, 2015

In the field because I'm too #distractinglysexy for the lab. Took ages to find a pic where I'm not crying #TimHunt pic.twitter.com/xtHGGCYmZm

— Jennifer Pannell (@jennypannell) June 11, 2015

@IBM no one is asking male scientists to hack beard trimmers. #womenintech #womeninSTEM

— RebeccaDV (@dellavalleneuro) December 7, 2015

I leave hairdryer fixing to the men, I'm too busy making nanotech and treating cancer. https://t.co/fX7tDPsJXr

— Upulie Divisekera (@upulie) December 7, 2015

6) #PadsAgainstSexism, #HappyToBleed

Closer home, the #PadsAgainstSexism campaign spread like wildfire across the country with women protesting the stigma associated with menstruation. The online movement spilled on university campuses, starting at Jamia Millia Islamia, as students put up sanitary pads with protest messages on them.

Keeping in line with the same message against gender discrimination and treating menstruation as a taboo subject, another campaign called #HappytoBleed took off later in the year. It was sparked after an official of Kerala's 'men-only' Sabarimala temple said that women would be allowed to make the pilgrimage to the site only when a machine to screen for 'purity' is invented.

Moments from the #ComeSeeTheBloodOnMySkirt march. #PadsAgainstSexism continues all over Delhi and India. pic.twitter.com/0XyZJf0cmc

— Mejazul Haque (@MejazulHaque) April 11, 2015

(Pads Against Sexism - Delhi )

(Pads Against Sexism - Delhi )

.@smrtgrls See how India's smart girls are fighting #menstruation taboos! https://t.co/fMU3lWPCSM #HappyToBleed pic.twitter.com/dp7GSEEQSq

— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) November 23, 2015

You are here cause we bleed. #HappyToBleed

— Gauri (@Thakurain_) November 23, 2015

7) #RefugeesWelcome, #IStandWithAhmed

The threat posed by the Islamic State terror group and the refugee crisis was and continues to be the most pressing issue facing the world today and the internet has had its say on the subjects in myriad different ways. One of them was the heartening #RefugeesWelcome hashtag that put pressure on governments to up their intake of refugees fleeing conflict zones.

The IS threat has invariably led to a rise in xenophobia in the west and campaigns such as #IStandWithAhmed - which started in America after a boy was wrongly persecuted because his harmless science project was mistaken for a bomb - made it clear that there was a strong and vocal opposition against racism.

Nasa, Silicon Valley giants Facebook and Google and US President Barack Obama joined supporters rallying around the teenager.

As always, football leads. #RefugeesWelcome pic.twitter.com/42eNWku9Uc

— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) September 2, 2015

So heartened by growing backlash against Govt's cruel & immoral position, as more & more people say #refugeeswelcome pic.twitter.com/oEYQ7VckyN

— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) September 2, 2015

Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.

— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015

Watch out, it's a brown guy with a clock! #IStandWithAhmed @IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/8lzzrEakoi

— Tariq Khokhar (@tkb) September 16, 2015

The look on this kid's face while he's wearing a NASA shirt and handcuffs should haunt all of us. #IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/7R02HZ0FnQ

— Charles Clymer (@cmclymer) September 16, 2015