Spending even five minutes on the internet makes it abundantly clear that social media is a double-edged sword, but we’ve now reached the point as a society where it’s become so important to everyday life that people are getting awards for how they use it, so it’s not all about sharing cat pictures and memes.
Dwayne Johnson will be receiving Special Achievement Award at the 25th annual Webbys for how he’s utilized his various online platforms to connect directly with his fans, comment and spread awareness on important issues, deliver exclusive personal content to people everywhere and offer both motivation and inspiration.
With 58 million followers on Facebook, 238 million on Instagram and over 15 million on Twitter, it would be fair to say that he’s one of the most-followed people in the world, not to mention the fact that he’s definitely up there with the likes of Keanu Reeves and Tom Hanks when it comes to the folks least likely to be targeted by the cancel culture brigade given his generally wholesome existence that paints him as a hard-working family man who regularly replies to his army of supporters in person.
While there’s definitely an element of celebrity back-scratching to handing out a Special Achievement Award to one of the most famous men on the planet, other recipients alongside Dwayne Johnson include filmmaker Ava DuVernay, recent Academy Award nominee Riz Ahmed, actress and activist Yara Shahidi, singer songwriter Andra Day, restaurateur and humanitarian José Andrés, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the medical face of the early days of COVID-19, all of whom use their social media accounts to shine a light on a variety of different issues that affect people all over the world.