|
Social Media – Slacktivism or Social Good?
By Paula Attfield on October 8, 2010
Malcolm Gladwell’s recent piece Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted in the New Yorker made me cranky.
In a nutshell, Gladwell contends that social media won’t be creating any type of structured social activism any time soon, let alone a revolution.
Admittedly I wonder from time to time whether social media will create a cult of ‘slacktivism’. Will simply commenting on or joining something on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Foursquare, etc. convince computer armchair warriors to think they’re contributing to a revolution or a social cause in some meaningful way? Will their contribution from their computers and mobile devices actually achieve something?
Cases for Support
We’ve seen successful efforts to raise money for good causes by social media experts like @unmarketing, who singlehandedly raised tens of thousands of dollars for a young boy with muscular dystrophy using Twitter. Such examples have raised my spirits about the potential for good in social net activism.
We also saw the power of social media in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. Within minutes of the quake, news was spreading like wildfire on Twitter. Tweets flew by at the rate of thousands per minute. The powerful images and discussion spread through social media channels and millions of dollars in online donations poured in…perhaps from people who wouldn’t otherwise have reached into their wallets.
And while I miss the RL* rallies and protests of my formative years, I’m happy to now have the option to engage in activism online.
Who is he to talk?
And, as it turns out, Malcolm Gladwell doesn’t actually have any presence on Facebook or Twitter or the like (apparently someone has taken his name on Twitter and it isn’t actually the man himself behind the account). With no personal experience in the world of the social net, how can he speak to what does, or does not, go on in this space?
The Verdict
Tom from The Agitator says “If Gladwell ranks 10 on a scale of one-to-ten in his skepticism about social net activism, I would place myself at about 6”. Tom asks where his readers fit in this scale.
Well Tom, call me a dreamer, but my skepticism of social net activism is at a 1. I’m not skeptical at all. It is engaged communities that have always brought about social change and it’s only the channels through which such communities are formed that are different. I expect great things to come from the social net.
*Real Life
neil wrote, on 17:53 at Oct 08, 2010
What about during the recent protests in Iran? People used social media to keep track of what was happening and also to plan actual demonstrations.
MM wrote, on 08:18 at Oct 10, 2010
I’m with Gladwell I see no social advances re twitter or facebook just people alone in front of computers pretending they are socialising with people they never meet and never see, half of whom are stalkers or ‘collectors’ of ‘followers’. The only way to specialise is to directly interact with people. Indeed FB/Twitter can be really considered ANTI-Social in real terms, after all you can’t tell if a person has BO online…. You are confusing the occasional fund raising via these things as a sign it is the only way forward for social interactions, perhaps you need to get away from the computer and get out more ? You know, talk to living breathing real people, not their online persona. Do ANY Of them honestly say the same as if they were in the room with you ? Online you can say anything, face to face you would be more considerate. So social medias actively encourage the darer side of people’s personalties, to attack people they wouldn’t dare in a face to face situation. Bullying by remote control. 99.5% is total crap anyway, how do you find the real person online ?
Paula wrote, on 13:38 at Oct 14, 2010
Thanks MM,
You’d be surprised how often a person’s “true” colours will shine through even through cyber space. You are right in that the dark side can come out online (the anominity can lend itself to that). However, the online world, just like the offline world, has little tolerance for unchecked negativity.
You may also be surprised at the number of people who do eventually meet their online friends in real life. For many of us, that’s the whole point. I’ve met quite a number of great people this way. And, we make it a point to stay in touch in real life – via Tweetups (etc). It’s in this regard where the potential for true organization for social good lies.
Paula wrote, on 13:43 at Oct 14, 2010
Thanks for your comment Neil, Gladwell does in fact point to Iran. In this case, though, his contention is that most of the tweets concerning Iran came outside of Iran and in English and so dismisses this example as a case where the organizing took place on the ground. Perhaps he’s right. In any case, the Tweeting in english, certainly helped raised the international profile of the events in Iran – thereby shining a spotlight on the situation.
MM wrote, on 05:03 at Oct 16, 2010
A spotlight, but is there any realistic positive to addressing things, in the world of twitter it’s not just yesterday’s news, it’s Neanderthal 5 minutes ago, it’s just a constant stream of immediacy with no time to correlate and take things in and or disseminate fact from fiction. We’re in information overload, but the real guide is reading what are the top issues people tune in to via social sites, or indeed online generally, here it’s total trivia, of celebrity chasing/TV gossip and who was daft on youtube last night.
We’re blinded by spotlights, it stops us taking the time to reason things out as to what the reality might be.. I think Twitter in particulate is the most worthless of all social things on;line at present, it trivialises everything. Facebook is plain voyeurism and a threat to privacy, apart from making you some stalker’s target. Like I said NO-ONE online is who they say they are. They are who they think they want to be…. sad. It’s a major crisis of the individual, unable to cope with 6 billion others. A world of your own making where reality is what you make it…
Sichere Geldanlage 2010 wrote, on 08:00 at Oct 26, 2010
To all the above commentors. Blogs can be much better to read if You can keep Your comments simple and to the point. No-one likes to read giant comments when the concept can be conveyed using a not as long comment.
Paula wrote, on 10:08 at Oct 26, 2010
Thanks for the reminder Sichere!
I love Bing wrote, on 15:25 at Nov 15, 2010
Bing is cool and I have quick results.
Mr Editor - wrote, on 09:07 at Dec 06, 2010
Sorry to hear you are having a problem. Which browser are you using?