Slacktivism Essay

Inroduction

Slacktivism is becoming more common on social media. It refers to showing support to a social cause involving limited efforts by the participant. The word is a combination of two English words; slacking and activism and Slacktivism involves minimal effort by the participant like signing online petitions, copy and pasting social network links and statuses or joining specific social networking groups. A study done by the University of British Columbia showed that people who participated in Slacktivism were less likely to participate in more meaningful causes in the future than someone who had not participated in Slacktivism at all. Slacktivism in most cases is only a boost of the participants' ego as the participants in most cases lack engagement and commitment, and in most cases, the outcome of the actions are of no use regarding promoting the cause.

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The difference between Slacktivism and activism is that the participants in Slacktivism do not need to appear physically or be heard. Slacktivism only works on social media and the participants just have to post, repost, retweets, like pages and share links to a specific cause. Activism, on the other hand, involves full participation by the people involved. Activism involves, public rallies and meetings, fasting, canvassing door-to-door and peaceful demonstrations.

Slacktivism is considered less effective than activism. This is because people involved in the offline actions do not put much time effort and finances in support of the cause. This makes it hard for them to follow up on the process and outcome of the causes that they support. The activists, on the other hand, put in so much time and energy in lobbying, marching and the protests and may affect the outcomes since they can go to where the issues occurred and dealt with them (Thitivesa, 2017).

Slacktivist campaigns have been going on all over social media, and although some may not affect people in real life, some of these campaigns have brought positive change, and the causes supported changed the lives of many. Some of the campaigns have brought more harm than good. Some of the most popular Slacktivist campaigns include

The red equal sign of Facebook

This was a human rights campaign advocating for equal rights for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and transgender) people. The Campaign posted a symbol of a pink equal sign placed on a red background to mobilize their online supporters as the supreme courts' hearings proceeded and urged the supporters to use the symbol as their Facebook profile picture. Over 2.7 million Facebook users across the US changed their profile pictures to this symbolic picture (Kleinman, 2013). Although changing the profile picture to the equals sign did not affect the court's decision in the matter, the support the LGBT got from Facebook users had a positive effect on them.

Moustache Movember

A group of 30 men from Australia Melbourne agreed to grow a mustache for 30 days so that they would raise awareness of prostate cancer in men in 2004. By 2007, the campaign had expanded to over ten countries across the world. So far, the campaign has raised to 350 million pounds that funded 800 programs in 21 countries around the globe. Those who took part in the campaign shared pictures of themselves on social media with messages about prostate cancer. This campaign helped raise awareness of prostate cancer. More men went for checkups and others were interested to know more about prostate cancer and how to avoid it.

Bring back our girls

This was a campaign started on social media after a terror group called Boko Haram abducted 276 girls in Nigeria from a boarding school in 2014. The hashtag "bring back our girls" went viral on social media. Former first lady Mitchelle Obama also participated in the "#bring back our girls" campaign via social media. According to a former Boko Haram member Fulan Nasrullah, the group saw the real value of the girls after they saw the post by Mitchelle Obama. They realized they would use the girls as an advantage for their negotiations. It has been more than four years since the kidnapping and 57 of the girls escaped and 107 released, the group still has 112 of the girls and 19 of their parents have already died.

Kony 2012

Kony2012 was started by Jason Russell who made a video about Kony, a Ugandan citizen who took small children and trained them as soldiers for war. The video had over 43million views on YouTube within 3days. Within a week, Kony had become popular and was trending globally. The story became news headlines for all the media houses. Slacktivism, in this case, had a significant impact on the cause. One post led to the world knowing about a breach of human rights that had been a secret. Through sharing and reposting, the world came to know about the existence of Kony.

Slacktivism has become popular now that anyone can own a phone or a computer and get easy access to social media. Today, people will support a cause they know nothing about by just a click on their computers. Most of the people do not take the time to see the truth behind what they agree to or repost for their followers to read. Talking about an issue on social media or changing one's profile picture to support a cause brings attention to problems that need to be addressed. The difference between Slacktivism and activism is that activists follow up to the end to make sure the issues are resolved. Slacktivists, on the other hand, do their part by liking, retweeting or sharing a post, and that is all. There are no follow-ups or actions taken to address the issues in question.

Some of the people who participate in this Slacktivism do not even understand the cause they are supporting and do exactly as their friends do or participate to get more popularity on social media (Seay, 2014). Online activism does not provide solutions to the causes. They only bring the attention needed to the problem, and at times the attention brought to the issues makes the situation worse, for example, the "bring back our girls" post by Michelle Obama. To make a real difference, online activists must do more than social interactions.

References

Kleinman, A. (2013, March 29). Huff Post. Retrieved from How The Red Equal Sign Took Over Facebook, According To Facebook's Data: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/red-equal-sign-facebook_n_2980489.html

Seay, L. (2014, March 12). The Washington Post. Retrieved from Does slacktivism work?: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/12/does-slacktivism-work/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.13cf805ab9a4

Thitivesa, V. (2017, October 16). Medium. Retrieved from Social Change, Political Participation, and Slacktivism: https://medium.com/@vorapilailuckthi/social-change-political-participation-and-slacktivism-328ffe693366