By: Paige Day

Social ClicktivismHow the internet is revolutionizing activism

Photo Source: Unsplash, by Rayi Christian Wicaksono

Social Clicktivism:

-the use of digital

communication technologies

in support of worthy causes.h[1]

Recently there has been a lot of

skepticism behind online activism…

“Critics argue that getting involved in a charity

through, say, Facebook or Twitter merely creates an

impression of support. They say that social media

makes it all too easy to appear engaged in important

issues without taking any real action, that all the

“likes,” shares and retweets about this issue or that

crisis simply do not yield results that count.”[1]

The internet has become a

revolutionary platform

filled with opportunities….

So what do all these stats mean?

Photo Source: Flickr, “Mobile/iPhone” by Daria

That the internet offers AMPLE opportunity

for creating social change and tangible

differences…..

…..yet still many critics argue that a click,

like or share means nothing without action!

“But what are they supposed to

do? What beyond spreading

awareness and raising funds to

help those who are doing the

research CAN people do?”[2]

Photo Source: Flickr, by Naomi Green

Lets take a look at some of the most successful

online social campaigns…

Photo Source: Flickr, Flickr/magicatwork

#BringBackOurGirls

• In April of 2014, 276 school

girls were abducted in the

Nigerian village of Chibok

• This caused global outrage and

so the hashtag was born

• In 3 weeks alone the hashtag

was used over 1 million times

• Notable people including

Barack and Michelle Obama

tweeted out using this hashtag

Photo Source: Flickr, “Zambian African

Children 1” by Simon Berry

[2]

[3]

“

Despite the oft-repeated claim that

awareness does nothing, it almost always

does something — something small,

perhaps, but something measurable.”

-Caitlin Dewey

[2]

Photo Source: Flickr, by James Smith

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

• 2015 viral campaign where

people dumped buckets of ice

water on themselves in

support of ALS

• Participants had 24hrs to

complete the challenge or

donate $100 to ALS

• This campaign went viral &

earned ALS over $100 million

dollars, compared to the $2.8

raised by them in the same

period the year prior.

• Funds raised have led to

breakthrough research about

slowing down the disease[4]

Photo Source: Flickr, “Mission Accomplished - ALS Ice Bucket

Challenge”, by Anthony Quintano

“The reality is, overexposure is necessary in

this day and age of constant information. It

takes seven to eight exposures, on average, to

motivate someone to take action.”

–Caitlin Dewey [2]

Photo Source: Flickr, “Camera”, by Yu-Chan Chen

• During March of 2014, the Tap

Project encourage people to take a

break from their phones

• The longer people stay unplugged,

the more money sponsors donate

to UNICEF’s clean water program

• Fifteen minutes of downtime is

equal to one day’s worth of clean

water for a child

• In one year 2.6 million

participants earned more than a

million dollars worth of clean

water funding

The UNICEF Tap

Project

[1]

Photo Source: Flickr, “Water tap”, by Kim Seiver

Project Free Rice

• Project Free Rice is a website

where you play online

vocabulary games to earn

real life rice

• For each correct answer they

donate 10 grains of rice to

the United Nations World

Food Program

• To date the project has

donated over 94 billion grains

of rice to countries in need[5]

Photo Source: Flickr, “Rice”, by Mennonite Board of Missions

Photograph Collection

Photo Source: Flickr, “KONY 2012”, by Daniel Lobo

Kony 2012

• A campaign set up by the

NGO Invisible Children to

raise awareness about child

soldiers in Africa

• Featured a viral video to

share their goal of capturing

Joseph Kony (war criminal)

by the end of 2012

• Their pledge gathered over

three and a half million

signatures by April 2012

alone

• #StopKony2012 trended

worldwide and campaign kits

sold out quickly [6]

#NoMakeUpSelfie has been a top

trending hashtag used thousands of times

by many women & celebrities including

Beyoncé and Ellen DeGeneres to promote

female empowerment [9]

Photo Source: Flickr, “Project 365 #337: 031213 Made Up!”, by Pete

Photo Source: Flickr, “Drowning In Social Media”, by mkhmarketing.wordpress.com

These are examples of how organizations are utilizing digital technology trends…

& leveraging online channels to make their

presence engaging, productive and meaningful!

A 2014 digital activism study

conducted by Cone Communications

surveyed 1,200 Americans. 64%

said they would be more inclined to

support a cause through donations

or volunteering after having “liked” or followed them on social media. [7]

Photo Source: Flickr, “Cash Money”, by Andy

"Twenty years ago a grandmother in Berlin couldn't have campaigned for gay rights, for

example," said Schott from the online activist network Avaaz. "It's positive just to show

people what change they can make in places far away from them.“ [8]

Photo Source: Flickr, “238/365”, by Kim Siever

The internet has made local issues global conversation…

Facebook users share more than

25 billion pieces of content each

month (including news stories,

blog posts and photos), and the

average user creates 70 pieces of

content a month. [10]

So why not start taking

advantage of it, and stop

dismissing the power

clicktivism?

Photo Source: http://mmtstock.com/ by Jeffrey Betts

The internet is here to stay…

References

• Brändlin, A. (2016). Can online campaigns bring offline change? | #NoEsc | Life Links | DW.COM | 27.06.2015. DW.COM. Retrieved 4 June 2016, from http://www.dw.com/en/lifelinks-noesc-online-activism-offline-impact/a-18543959 [8]

• Bresciani, S. & Schmeil, A. (2016). Social Media Platforms for Social Good. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.queensu.ca/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&[6]*

• Charities that went viral—and banked big bucks. (2014). CNBC. Retrieved 5 June 2016, from http://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/26/viral-money-5-hashtags-that-banked-serious-bucks-in-2014.html?slide=2 [9]

• Kielburger, C. & Kielburger, M. (2015). A click is not enough to have impact on world. canoe.com. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/World/2015/04/10/22337541.html [7]*

• Molloy, P. (2016). 1 year later, the Ice Bucket Challenge funds this breakthrough in ALS research.. Upworthy. Retrieved 4 June 2016, from http://www.upworthy.com/1-year-later-the-ice-bucket-challenge-funds-this-breakthrough-in-als-research [4]

• Play online, learn online and feed the hungry | Freerice.com. (2016). Freerice.com | Not Your Average Online Trivia Game. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1404 [5]

• Rosen, J. (2016). The Web Means the End of Forgetting - NYTimes.com. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-t2.html?pagewanted=all [10]*

• Sharmu, R. (2014). Stop Pouring Ice On Clicktivism. The Huffington ost. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ritusharma/stop-pouring-ice-on-click_b_5692555.html [2]*

• Shearlaw, M. (2015). Did the #bringbackourgirls campaign make a difference in Nigeria?. The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/14/nigeria-bringbackourgirls-campaign-one-year-on [3]

• Stern, C. (2015). In Praise Of Clicktivism. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 1 June 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/caryl-m-stern/in-praise-of-clicktivism_b_6978314.html [1]*

* *Course Content