Joanita Wibowo
The centrality of social media in everyday life has made it a ripe hunting ground for not just businesses, but also activists and interest groups.
This should be no surprise to many of us. A study at University of Sydney shows that an increase in social media usage leads to more political engagement and participation by young people. It also found that 65 per cent of Australian respondents aged 16-29 state that Facebook, rather than television or print media, is the main platform from which they first hear about news, social events and political issues.
Social media not only allows advocacy groups to raise awareness of their issues to a wide audience with less cost, but also it enables users to support the cause and make a difference (or feel like they do) without getting off the screen.
We have also seen the success of various campaigns for different causes through social media. More than 60,000 people donated a total of $3 million to MND Australia after the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge went viral. Red Cross campaigns for Haiti earthquake relief, which were based on Twitter and Facebook, successfully raised more than $8 million dollar. A more recent example would be Sydney student Subeta Vimalarajah’s online petition to remove tampon tax, which has established a national conversation about the Government’s view on female health goods.
However, many other campaigns were not so lucky and only turned into “slacktivist” or “clicktivist” movements, where supporters’ engagement remains limited to internet-based participation.
Many criticise the nature of social media-based campaigns, questioning whether signing online petitions, retweeting, or ‘liking’ posts would create a tangible change. The display of support in social media might also provide a sense of achievement for the users, even if it is done without sincere engagement or dedication to the cause. These campaigns may offer information about the issues, but knowledge does not necessarily entail pertinent behaviour. With little to no effort or consideration to participate, the campaigns’ ability to accomplish their objectives beyond tokenistic symbolism was doubted.
Furthermore, even if the campaigns become widely popular, many argue that they would only have 15 minutes of fame as a hot trending topic for the moment, without being able to attract long-term supporters. Examples may include KONY 2012 and the #bringbackourgirls campaigns, whose causes received little attention after their viral moments peaked.
This does not mean online activism has the tendency to fail – however, slacktivism proves to be one of the biggest challenges that the movement faces. In Ariadne Vromen’s article, a respondent says, “If [young people] are actively reading, engaging, and being informed by conversations on social media sites, then it creates a more informed public.” The question is, how to turn passed information and casual concerns into real action?
This does not mean online activism has the tendency to fail – however, slacktivism proves to be one of the biggest challenges that the movement faces. In Ariadne Vromen’s article, a respondent says, “If [young people] are actively reading, engaging, and being informed by conversations on social media sites, then it creates a more informed public.” The question is, how to turn passed information and casual concerns into real action?
Attaining awareness is a step closer to making informed decision, and there is little to lose in spreading ideas about the issues through pictures and statuses. However, with the growth of slacktivism, we should invite truthful conversations and aim to excel in more than just branding and ‘likes’ – then maybe we may invoke meaningful contributions.
