One For, One Against

Over the past week I have discovered two new social media trends – one that I applaud, and one that I shake my head at. Last weekend, over 50,000 music fans descended upon the Polo Grounds in Indio, California for the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. A repeat performance of the three-day concert will be held again this weekend due to the overwhelming demand for tickets this year, one of which I was lucky enough to snag (oh yeah!). As my excitement and anticipation have been building for over a month now, I was unable to completely ignore all the hype about the best acts and guest artists from weekend one. So, I caved and tuned into the Coachella YouTube stream, where I was able to watch most of the performances I’m looking forward to. To my delight, I found much more than great music here.

Unbeknownst to me, Coachella and YouTube had formed a special partnership to air the entire festival live over the Internet, free of charge. This was not just a stream however – it was an experience. The site also displayed live-updates of all social media content containing the #CoachellaLive tag, across all platforms. Three separate channels provided viewers with nearly complete access to every act. This. Was. AWESOME! Facebook posts and Tweets were flowing in by the second, as the big artists were about to go on stage. Every message was positive. The ecstasy was palpable, even from behind the computer screen. #CoachellaLive was successful because it provided a meaningful and experiential link between the virtual and the real. After I turned off the lights and put the stream on full-screen, it was almost like I was standing out with the crowd in the desert.

Now to the bad stuff. Huffington Post reports that New York creative agency DDB has developed and launched the first version of an “I Care” Facebook button. "The 'I Care' button seeks to serve as an appropriate complement to the 'Like' button and can be easily leveraged by individuals and organizations alike to exhibit and inspire social activism," says Matt Eastwood, chief creative officer at DDB. What a load of bullshit! The button might as well say, “Don’t do anything at all to support this cause other than clicking here.” This button will be the complete antithesis of effective cause activism via social media. It will put “slacktivism” in the dictionary.

The problem with the “I Care” button is that it promotes non-action. “Caring” about a cause on Facebook does not help raise money, save lives or overturn legislation. Instead, it continues to blind users from the truth about cause involvement – you actually have to get off your ass to accomplish something. What also irks me is the fact that DDB expects their new button to have a significant impact on cause awareness, when all they really did was change a single word. Saying “I Care” instead of “I Like” is not a revolution in digital activism. It’s just stupid.

Towards a New Social Media

One Billion Dollars. Cash. This is the amount of money Facebook laid down to purchase the mobile photo-sharing app Instagram on Monday this week. That’s a lotta dough. It is obvious that this relatively young start-up has immense potential in the eyes of Mark Zuckerberg, who approved Facebook’s single largest acquisition in history. With only 13 staff members in a small office in San Francisco, Instagram has acquired 35 million users in only 18 months, and doubled in size in the past five months. Their release of the Android version of the app last week garnered a million new downloads in a 24 hour period. At its core, Instagram is a community of photographers, sharing the world through their own mobile lens. Users can enhance photos with a variety of artsy filters, and share them with their followers who can “like” or comment on them. Essentially, Instagram is all about what users see.

Now I want to talk about another social media network. It’s called Everest. If you’re scratching your head and wondering why you haven’t heard of this, it’s because it hasn’t debuted yet. Mark my words though, it could be bigger than Instagram, and – gasp – bigger than Facebook (if they don’t buy it first). Why? Because Everest is about what users do. In their own words, Everest’s vision is to, “unlock human potential by inspiring and empowering people to live their dreams.” It’s the first comprehensive social media tool designed for a community of action. Ok, here’s an example. Say you want to run a marathon. Everest helps you plan your steps along the way with timely reminders. It connects you with others working towards the same goal, and provides support from more experienced marathoners who have ran before. You can also capture and share moments along the journey, and revisit them once you have accomplished your dream.

Another amazing feature of Everest involves sponsorship involvement. Partnered sponsors have the ability to create additional “dares” for any challenge users set out to achieve. If a user accepts and completes a dare, they are rewarded with a prize (e.g. 20% off a new pair of running shoes). By incorporating dares, Everest is incentivizing their users to actually follow through with their goals, and get out and DO IT. This is a truly powerful model for translating virtual interactions to real world results.

Now apply Everest’s model to a community of activists who want to change a law instead of climb a mountain. They won’t be able to achieve that goal through sharing an event page and gathering a bunch of followers. Facebook (who you know) , Twitter (what you think) and Instagram (what you see) are communities that are perfectly sustainable in just the virtual realm. Everest is about what you do and how you do it. It depends upon real world results. This is the direction social media needs to take if it wants to more positively affect social causes.

On A Personal Note...

Confession of a twenty-something guy about to graduate college: I’m addicted to Facebook. As much as I hate to the say that, it’s true. The ruler of social media has sucked more time out of my life than I care to admit, and I’ve finally realized that it’s time to make a change. Today - as I write this - is the first day I have logged out of Facebook in months. I closed the tab on my browser. I deleted the app from my Smartphone. And goddamn does it feel liberating. Cold Turkey isn’t always easy though, as the real test of my will power and resistance still awaits me.

What brought about this sudden change in lifestyle you may ask? Well, a few weeks ago I was dumped. My long-term relationship with a girl I’ve known for ten years ended abruptly. I was crushed. Ok, enough of the sob story… the silver lining here is that I discovered a dangerous addiction that I am now on the way to remedying. Our relationship was long-distance – we’re both at different universities, one East and one West – so communication was always a little tricky. I found myself constantly checking up on her through social media; looking at pictures, seeing what she was up to, reading what her friends had to say. In a way, I was trying to replace a real relationship with an online one, especially post break up. I couldn’t go an hour without checking her page. It had to stop.

On top of that, I fell back on my own Facebook existence to weather the storm. For an entire week, I posted as much content as I could. I checked in everywhere I went, tagging all of my friends with me. I posted pictures of me out having a good time, pretending like everything was fine. I wanted her to see that I was moving on.

After thinking about this experience for a while now, I realize how fake it is. It’s been said a million times, but Social Media really is destroying our potential to interact in personal and meaningful ways. If Facebook did not exist now, I wouldn’t have drawn out my break up so long. It would have been harder at first, but at least it would have been final. Instead, I’ve been trying to hold on to the good memories through her virtual existence. And myself? I’m not really back to normal and having a great time yet, but my Facebook page says otherwise. What was I thinking?

This is only a single example of how relationships do not translate evenly across the physical and digital worlds. My relationship at least had a partially physical aspect. Now think about all the connections through social media that don’t. They are often meaningless, falsely represented images of what’s real, making social media far less effective when utilizing its networks for causes beyond personal communication.

Pardon my rant, but I had to get that out.

Crazy Good Marketing

For the third week in a row the KONY 2012 campaign has made headlines, only this week not for its viral YouTube video. It’s no secret that more and more media outlets are reporting that “KONY 2012 is Not a Revolution”, now focusing on the skewed and oversimplified message presented by Invisible Children front man Jason Russell. So, what has the papers talking now? Last week police in Pacific Beach, San Diego detained Russell after witnesses reported him wandering through the streets and obstructing traffic in only his underwear while screaming incoherently. His wife and family maintain that drugs or alcohol did not induce the incident, and doctors are now reporting that Russell has been diagnosed with brief reactive psychosis.

"Doctors say this is a common experience given the great mental, emotional and physical shock his body has gone through in these last two weeks," Danica Russell said in a statement. With 84 million YouTube hits now, the KONY 2012 video ushered in a storm of critical reactions and responses, many of which were personally directed at Russell himself, eventually triggering his episode. Well, I hate to say this, but he deserved it (not the Psychosis part). The real fault of Russell’s self-narrated video was the voice - it was too personal. The film opens with footage of Russell’s son Gavin being born. He continues to speak to young Gavin throughout the story, explaining to him how Joseph Kony is a “bad guy.” The film then ends with Russell’s wish to leave the world a better place for Gavin, one that he can be proud of.

Ok, he’s really really cute. But let’s be real - this video is supposed to be about the thousands of Africans living under the oppression of Kony’s army. Where is their story? Where are their voices? The video also omits a lot of critical information about the region affected by Kony, presenting an “oversimplified” image. There is no mention of conflict over land and resources, the unstable health and education systems, or the widespread youth illness known as “nodding disease”. Clearly, the video has been skewed to cater to a Western audience, pulling at the heartstrings of Americans by presenting a simplified version of the truth. It’s easy to sympathize with a cause that wants to stop an evil man from abducting children, so that a white American poster-boy can have a better future. That’s marketing for you.

So what does this all say about Social Media? For one, it’s used to appeal to the masses. KONY 2012 was not meant to be educational. If you really want to learn about what’s going on over there, go watch a documentary or read some credible journalists. This campaign was strategically planned to capture the support of American youths … high production value film, pop-culture stars backing the campaign, a trendy bracelet and activism kit to show support, all spread over Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. If KONY 2012 didn’t have all this pizzazz that appeals to college students, do you think it would have become so viral?

Social Media has the power to tailor causes to specific audiences. It can make issues seem “cool”, and play at your emotions. And it can certainly leave a lot of relevant information out of the equation – a Tweet is only 140 characters after all. The point is that the real issues with Kony and the area he’s affecting have nothing to do with Jason Russell or his son Gavin or a cool bracelet. But Invisible Children’s campaign used these factors to manipulate its target audience into sympathizing with their cause and generating rapid awareness. That’s almost absurd enough to make me run screaming through the streets naked.

KONY 2012: Slacktivism Turned Viral

Step aside Rebecca Black and Denver the Guilty Dog, a new challenger is making a run for the fastest growing viral video in history. His name is Joseph Kony. You might be asking yourself, “Who the hell is that?” Don’t worry though, your ignorance is justified, because hardly anybody knew who this guy was before the beginning of the week. Since its release on Monday, March 5, the KONY 2012 campaign has already received over 36 million views on YouTube. You’ve probably noticed about twenty or so of your Facebook friends posting about it, sharing the video, and asking others to watch. So, what’s all the fuss about?

“KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.” Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan militia notorious for ruthless murders and the abduction of thousands of African children. The International Criminal Court has ranked him #1 on the list of the World’s Worst Criminals. To put it simply, Kony is an evil man that must be stopped.

Invisible Children’s (IC) campaign is definitely off to a powerful start. It will no doubt achieve its goal of making Kony a household name by mid-year – a true testament to the awareness capability of social media. The campaign is also urging supporters to sign a petition, to donate money, and to message prominent cultural and political figures whom IC has targeted for support. But what about its ultimate goal; bringing Kony to justice? This requires real, effective, physical activism. As IC explains, it is entirely dependent on the continued presence of American military advisers in Africa, who will strategize with local governments and armies to bring Kony down. Unfortunately, sharing the KONY 2012 video on Facebook and Twitter is not making this any easier. Let’s face it – our tweets and posts don’t have any tangible effects on American foreign policy. Once again though, millions of people’s involvement with this cause will start and end with sharing a video on their wall. I feel like forcing them all to listen to Rage Against the Machine. WAKE UP people, Social Media is not the answer to this problem!

In fairness, IC has established an actual ground presence in Africa. They’ve successfully rescued children, rebuilt some of the destruction caused by Kony’s army, and set up a radio-alert system to warn of imminent attacks. But as with most viral social media campaigns, many will pass on the Kony video before doing their research. Almost equally in the media spotlight this week is the critical response to KONY 2012, with many prominent sources (Huffington Post, Mashable, Jezebel)  calling out the dubious financials of Invisible Children, their call for military involvement, and their questionable marketing tactics. My point is that if you spend a little time reading about the organization behind the video (about as much as it took you to watch it), you might find that it’s not as virtuous as it appears on Facebook. The flood of immediate and total support of KONY 2012 amongst my friends is just another example of how Social Media tools have transformed us into a generation of “skimmers.” It looks great at first glance, so of course I’m for it. Now, let me get back to browsing cat memes. As the saying goes, don’t believe everything you read (or watch).

And just because I have to...

The Social Media Bandwagon

I recently read an interesting article about how different technologies have affected the dynamics of mobs, in particular social media platforms. I will admit that editor of Wired Magazine and author Bill Wasik makes a strong case for the effectiveness of Facebook, Twitter and BBM in organizing mob action, but whether or not this is a positive effect for digital activism is a different story. After reading his article #Riot, I consider Social Media tools to be more of a double-edged sword. Yes, they can be used to prompt activism, but sometimes for the wrong reasons. Even worse, social media has the power to influence mass amounts of people through popularity alone, without providing enough information on the issues at play.

Wasik uses several case studies to demonstrate how social media and instant messaging applications have transformed the way mobs gather, how they think, and how they act. In particular, “flash mobs” of instantaneous and spontaneous nature are made possible by these new ways of communication. To explain this, Wasik first discusses the recent riots in Enfield, England. Several stores were looted by a mob of a few hundred, in retaliation to a video and photos of police brutality. What was unique about this mob was its ability to adapt on the fly. When law enforcement officials seemingly contained the rioters, they were able to quickly find new exits. After dispersing at one point, they were able to reorganize again with the same force in a new area of town hours later. Wasik attributes this adaptability to the quick and instant spread of information between the mob (both in text and visual media form) made possible in this case by Blackberry Messenger (BBM).

My concern here is how information can be taken out of context when received through social media. It can also be distorted to promote an opinion or movement that is easy to for others to get behind. Whatever action law enforcement was taking in this photo could have been completely warranted. Someone was quick to cry “brutality”, and immediately sent it to ten of their friends with the subject line “Let’s Kick Some Arse and Loot The Grocery”. My guess is they all jumped on board the mob train without giving it a second thought, and forwarded the message on to ten more of their friends. This is known as the bandwagon effect; willingness to join the group is proportional to the numbers who have already done so.

This reminds me of the recent SOPA and PIPA protests circulating around Facebook. Everyone was asking (demanding) their friends to sign the petition against the bills, which many agreeably did. But how many of these people actually took the time to read the petition, or to read the bills for that matter? How many actually knew what they were signing? Not enough. But if you’re three best friends signed it, hey, why not right?

My point is that social media has qualities that promote a “follower’s” mindset. It’s fast, it’s easy, and everyone’s using it. It’s almost like a drug. Remember that day in high school when your buddy first peer-pressured you into smoking weed? That was most likely harmless – this is not:

The immediate nature of texts, tweets and posts often prevent us from ever digging deeper into the issues behind them, and making our own informed opinions. We follow what’s trending. We “like” what’s popular. As with the English mobs, it can be useful to step back, and not take immediate action when someone pings you with a “Join Now” text. Do yourself a favor, and think before you act the next time you click.

Soulmates?

I recently joined the social bookmarking resource Diigo yesterday to connect with other people out there talking and reading about Slacktivism. After some diligent searching, I realized it’s hard to find someone who has a lot to say about it on a regular basis. Eventually though, I came across Dan McQuillan. Other than his name, you won’t find any of the other usual personal information about him – no profile picture, no occupation, no short bio. Dan’s Diigo does tell me one thing though: he reads… A LOT. A member since April of last year, Dan has already amassed over 18,500 public bookmarks. If I do my math right, that’s about… well, more than I want to read in a day. Just tonight as I’m writing this, he has tagged more than ten separate articles, all within an hour of each other.

I was also drawn to McQuillan because of his bookmarking topics, many of which are closely related to Slacktivism. While he seems to be more of the active type than the slacktive type, his tags did point me towards some relevant articles that I will pick on later. “Social”, “Media”, “Activism”, and “Research” are his most common tags, in addition to “Twitter” leading the pack with 819 uses. Recently, he has been reading and tagging articles on the topic of Internet censorship, and the new Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Following the recent concern of the SOPA and PIPA acts, ACTA seems to pose an even greater threat to Internet freedom, as it would allow websites to more easily track and report user activity. Right now, it is working its way through the EU Parliament, where a vote of “NO” will effectively dismantle the agreement. McQuillan also bookmarked several YouTube videos on this subject, highlighting another cool capability of Diigo that I was unaware of.

One particularly applicable gem I found after digging through a few more pages of McQuillan’s readings is The Meta-Activism Project. This “non-traditional digital activism think tank” aims to provide essential readings, thought-provoking blogs, and quantitative data on digital activism to its readers. Unfortunately, much of their work supports the exact opposite of my opinion on the relationship between social media and involvement. In Dan’s tagged article, “The Proof is in the Pendulum: a History of Digital Activism and Repression”, author Mary Joyce uses a data set to graphically show how the emergence of social media has exponentially increased digital activism over the past six years. Ok, fine… the numbers don’t lie. The world is becoming more involved digitally, as campaigns are made more accessible through these tools. But this does not equate to literal, physical, successful activism, as evidenced by this graphic from the very same website:

Another McQuillan-tagged article that shared my same contempt of digital activism malpractice is Micah White’s, “A Vision of Post-Clicktivist Activism” found on Adbusters. I breathed a long sigh of relief upon reading this post… Finally, someone else who agrees with me!:

“If #OCCUPYWALLSTREET fails, it will be because we've blindly adopted "best practices" put forth by wealthy Californian techies turned reformist campaigners. Their methods now dominate the way many organizers believe activism should be done, privileging a data-obsessed, metrics-oriented, technocratic approach which is closer to advertising than resistance.”

Now, if I could only get Dan McQuillan’s stance on all of this, I might be able to call him my “Social Bookmarking Soulmate”. Alas, he does not add comments along with his tags, so I will never know. Either way, his diligent tagging techniques of related topics and interest in all things related to social media and digital activism make Dan McQuillan a valuable resource to any reader of mine.

Trifecta

THE VOICE OF JAY DOLAN

If you’re looking for a blog that will inspire you to use social media effectively, and send you rushing to tweet or post these newfound insights, turn back now . You’ll regret about eighty-percent of the “absolute worst ideas and writing” that you’ve posted to Twitter and Facebook after reading Jay Dolan’s The Anti-Social Media. Seriously, this guy makes you feel bad. Arrogantly coined “the best social media satire on the internet. Ever.”, Dolan’s writing is nothing short of blunt. You may be able to infer this from the blood-soaked stick figure crying, “Muah ha ha ha ha!” that greets you on the homepage, or from the anarchist “A” symbol found in the blog title. If not, it won’t take long to pick up on this author’s voice after reading a few of his posts.

Dolan is a blogger out for vengeance. He’s irritated by the ways in which users have degraded social media into mindless self-promotion tools and ineffective campaign platforms. In a word, he is downright angry. In his recent post, "Trending Topics on Twitter", Dolan makes the sarcastic comparison between hashtags and self-imposed brain surgery – “Trending Topics have all the benefits of giving yourself a lobotomy.” This line is bolded to emphasize Dolan’s cynicism and firm opinion, a technique used in all of his posts. Further along, he asks his readers:

“Do you honestly believe that the people who share trending topics will grasp your weird promoted trend and be able to help you accomplish your business goals?” 

Rhetorical questions like this also recur throughout the blog, and work to dispel any doubts the readers may have with Dolan's point of view, as if saying, “what are you stupid?... of course not!” Thankfully, Dolan injects some comic relief amidst his rants, usually in the form of a satirical doodle beside his words that remind me of Rage Guy. To compliment this, his posts are all short and sweet – he tells you what he doesn’t like and why.

An earlier post titled "SOPA and PIPA Blackouts" further defines Dolan’s cynical yet comedic voice found throughout his blog. He uses concise paragraphs and sentences here to affirm his opinions while still being funny, beginning the post with…

“There are a lot of websites going dark today to protest SOPA an PIPA.

Those websites are stupid.”

Surprisingly, Dolan does not have a foul mouth (or pen in the case). While his posts are devoid of profanity, he does use informal language, such as calling tweets “lame” and form letters “crappy”. This word choice makes his rants more relatable to readers who share the same basic emotions. Dolan also uses topical references to make connections with his audience, citing LOL Cats as a far worse tragedy than website blackouts, but both ones "we can all suffer through.” He again uses bold to emphasize his irritancy with the general reaction to the blackouts, seemingly screaming at every reader, “Turning off your website, no matter how many hits you get daily, is just a very minor inconvenience.” This is angry Dolan. He then tones it down with this reference to Facebook posts directed at elected officials:



This is funny, satirical Dolan.

Ultimately, the two sides to Dolan’s voice work well together. Readers are able to share in his frustration and anger caused by Social Media misuse - everyone loves a good rant. They are also able to laugh – sometimes at themselves – at how ridiculous these situations are. To me, Dolan’s voice creates a hot/cold effect. His posts get super heated when he is enraged about something, and then cool back down when he makes a joke about it. Overall, I am aiming to write in a somewhat similar voice (using anger/frustration along with satire) as it makes for an engaging and enjoyable read.




BLOG PROFILE:  ONLINE ACTIVISM

Slacktivism is a serious issue of debate across the Internet, but thankfully one that can be hilarious at times.  I've mainly been scouring the blogosphere for pages like mine that aren't professional or scholarly in tone, so I figured it would be valuable to profile one that is. Online Activism is a relatively obscure cyberactivism and social movement blog, covering issues of social media, slacktivism, clicktivism and web communities. Operating under the tagline “A Network Society Perspective”, I was excited to share in the author’s contempt of Slacktivism through social media use. The postings however suggest a more critical stance on the issues in question, and are clearly more objective in nature. The author, Khatarina Otulak, is a Masters student of Digital Communications and Cultures at the University of Sydney, interested in political blogging, citizen journalism, Internet censorship and the digital divide. Aussies know what they’re talking about on this subject, as I was surprised to learn that they spend more time on Facebook than Americans.

Her most recent entry, entitled “The Gladwell Controversy”, discusses the power of social media to influence “real” activism. It reflects upon a New York Times article by Malcolm Gladwell, making a distinction between strong ties (direct contacts and associations) and weak ties (distant connections or acquaintances). Gladwell argues that social media facilitates engagement in causes through the quick dissemination of information across many weak ties. While Otulak agrees with this point, she challenges his view of the overall result:

“Facebook is an example for social networks’ effectiveness in increasing participation by lessening the level of required motivation.”

Ultimately, she contends that he has overlooked the real potential of social media to cause change, beginning a lengthy and analytical debate. I’m with Gladwell on this one… more clicking = less doing.

A more relevant topic to my first blog is her post, “What’s your bra color - Social Contagion for a good cause?” Otulak touches on many of the same objections I voiced about the breast cancer awareness campaign of late, which she similarly agrees could have been more useful. She goes beyond personal opinions however, and discusses why social media is so effective in drawing support for such campaigns, reinforcing the academic character of her blog. She contends that Facebook and Twitter provide “low barriers to entry” to social causes, requiring little active effort from users to become involved. One is just a click away from joining a page or changing their status - a very low personal cost that most are willing to pay.



As a whole, Otulak paints both a critical and holistic view of Slacktivism and social media use in Online Activism.  This won’t help my writing as much since I’m quite opinionated on the subject, but even so she provides good topics for discussion in her monthly blogs. Strangely, she does not allow readers to comment on these debate-driven posts, a key difference between my blog and hers. I think its fair to say that you should check out Otulak’s blog if you haven’t made up your mind yet about Slacktivism.  If you have, and think it’s ridiculous, stay here and keep reading. If you think its useful, go make a Facebook status about it.




HELLO WORLD!

Welcome to Occupy The Internet. Please like our Facebook page if you are against raising student loan rates, support the #Occupy movements, or feel strongly about voters’ rights. Change your status to this for 24 hours to raise awareness of these issues. 9/10 people will do this, will you?

STOP! Before you go any further, and begin to feel as if you’re making a difference in a relevant social cause, consider the truth… You’re not. Instead, you’ve become another victim of a sweeping social media trend known as Slacktivism. For those readers unfamiliar with this term, it combines the words Slacker and Activism, and describes the feel-good procedure of posting about social issues or causes without taking any literal action. I like to think of it as a “social placebo” – a quick fix that leaves you feeling positive about your effort, but with no physical effect.

Let’s look at a recent example… Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. MLK was a man instrumental in fueling the Civil Rights movement across America, who formed his entire philosophy and life’s work around the action of change. He was a doer, whose actions always spoke louder than his inspiring words. In his remembrance, millions re-posted quotes and videos from his famous speeches, and probably felt warm and fuzzy inside for bringing attention to this holiday on their Facebook or Twitter page. But did anyone go out and do something yesterday, to try and bring awareness to a social issue affecting their own community? My guess is most of us pulled a Bueller and took the day off.

You may be more familiar with a slacktivist campaign that went viral on Facebook the past two Octobers. Suddenly, women everywhere began posting different colors and patterns to their page… But why? In case you missed the message, the colorful statuses revealed what type of bra they had on, and were meant to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. I ask you, what did this campaign actually accomplish? It did not provide any knowledge about the disease, or information regarding volunteer opportunities. It also did not succeed in raising any money, nor did it list any charities where one could donate. While it did get me thinking about breasts, it did not persuade me to leave my computer and rush out the door to cure cancer. In my opinion, it only left a lot of people asking questions and a lot of men teasingly intrigued.

By now you’re probably thinking that I’m quite the Negative Nancy. You may also think that I’m a hypocrite, as I’m only writing about this problem instead of actually doing something to change it. The truth is, I was once guilty of Slacktivism too, but at least now I’m beginning to understand how and why it is so prevalent. In my opinion, the real problem stems from the social media communities. Facebook and Twitter have created the phenomenon of trending, which downplays the real-world importance of many issues and turns them into the “it” topic to post about on any given day.



Bringing awareness to issues is definitely a positive effect, but by tomorrow many of them will be forgotten. It is this extremely temporal nature of posts and #hashtags that is causing issues requiring real action to pass us by. Is anyone talking about Martin Luther King today on Facebook or Twitter? Or breast cancer? I haven’t seen many.

Hopefully by writing this blog, I will find out more about the connection between Slacktivism and social media tools, and possibly how to remedy the false sense of contribution that they have created together. At the very least, maybe I can influence a few readers to stop changing their profile pictures to Spongebob, thinking they’re preventing child abuse... #SMH.

The Voice of Jay Dolan

If you’re looking for a blog that will inspire you to use social media effectively, and send you rushing to tweet or post these newfound insights, turn back now . You’ll regret about eighty-percent of the “absolute worst ideas and writing” that you’ve posted to Twitter and Facebook after reading Jay Dolan’s The Anti-Social Media. Seriously, this guy makes you feel bad. Arrogantly coined “the best social media satire on the internet. Ever.”, Dolan’s writing is nothing short of blunt. You may be able to infer this from the blood-soaked stick figure crying, “Muah ha ha ha ha!” that greets you on the homepage, or from the anarchist “A” symbol found in the blog title. If not, it won’t take long to pick up on this author’s voice after reading a few of his posts.

Dolan is a blogger out for vengeance. He’s irritated by the ways in which users have degraded social media into mindless self-promotion tools and ineffective campaign platforms. In a word, he is downright angry. In his recent post, "Trending Topics on Twitter", Dolan makes the sarcastic analogy between hashtags and self-performed brain surgery – “Trending Topics have all the benefits of giving yourself a lobotomy.” This line is bolded to emphasize Dolan’s cynicism, a technique used in all of his posts. Further along, he asks his readers if they, “honestly believe that the people who share trending topics will grasp your weird promoted trend and be able to help you accomplish your business goals?” Rhetorical questions like this also recur throughout the blog, and work as reality checks to skeptic readers, as if saying, “what are you stupid?... of course not!” Thankfully, Dolan injects some comic relief amidst his rants, usually in the form of a satirical doodle beside his words that remind me of Rage Guy. To compliment this, his posts are all short and sweet – he tells you what he doesn’t like and why.

An earlier post titled "SOPA and PIPA Blackouts" further defines Dolan’s cynical yet comedic voice found throughout his blog. He uses concise paragraphs and sentences here to affirm his opinions while still being funny, beginning the post with…

“There are a lot of websites going dark today to protest SOPA an PIPA.

Those websites are stupid.”

Surprisingly, Dolan does not have a foul mouth (or pen in the case). While his posts are devoid of profanity, he does use informal language, calling tweets “lame” and form letters “crappy”. This word choice makes his rants more relatable to readers who share the same basic emotion. Dolan also uses topical references to make connections with his audience, comparing LOL Cats with website blackouts, both as “tragedies we can all suffer through.” He again uses bold to emphasize his irritancy with the general reaction to the blackouts, seemingly screaming at every reader, “Turning off your website, no matter how many hits you get daily, is just a very minor inconvenience.” This is angry Dolan. He then tones it down with this reference to Facebook posts directed at elected officials:





This is funny, satirical Dolan.

Ultimately, the two sides to Dolan’s voice work well together. Readers are able to share in his frustration and anger caused by Social Media misuse - everyone loves a good rant. They are also able to laugh – sometimes at themselves – at how ridiculous these situations are. To me, Dolan’s voice creates a hot/cold effect. His posts get super heated when he is enraged about something, and then cool back down when he makes a joke about it. Overall, it makes for an engaging and enjoyable read.

Blog Profile - "Online Activism"

Online Activism is a cyberactivism and social movement blog, covering issues of social media, slacktivism, clicktivism and web communities. Operating under the tagline “A Network Society Perspective”, the blog appears to be a more objective collection of opinions from online activists across the Internet. The postings however suggest a more critical stance on the issues in question, and are clearly academic and professional in style. The author, Khatarina Otulak, is a Masters student of Digital Communications and Cultures at the University of Sydney, interested in political blogging, citizen journalism, Internet censorship and the digital divide. Judging from her insights and educational background, Otulak knows what she’s talking about. Her posts flow smoothly, with articulated arguments and well-drawn conclusions. Enough detail and substance is included to keep the posts scholarly, but without boring the reader. Ultimately, she makes strong points that directly support my own blog.

The most recent entry, entitled “The Gladwell Controversy”, discusses the power of social media to influence “real” activism. The post reflects upon a New York Times article by Malcolm Gladwell, which makes a distinction between strong ties (direct contacts and associations) and weak ties (distant connections or acquaintances). Gladwell argues that social media facilitates engagement in causes through the quick dissemination of information across many weak ties. While Otulak agrees with this point, she challenges his view of the overall result. “Facebook is an example for social networks’ effectiveness in increasing participation by lessening the level of required motivation.” By attributing successful causes to only high-risk activists, Otulak argues that Gladwell is disregarding the different types of involvement and the evolutionary nature of activism itself. Ultimately, she contends that he has overlooked the real potential of social media to cause change.

Even more relevant to my initial blog is her post, “What’s your bra color - Social Contagion for a good cause?” Otulak touches on many of the same criticisms I voiced about the breast cancer awareness campaign of late, which she similarly agrees could have been more useful. To add to the debate, she also examines why social media is so effective in drawing support for such campaigns. In her opinion, Facebook and Twitter provide “low barriers to entry” to social causes, requiring little active effort from users to become involved. One is just a click away from joining a page or changing their status - a very low personal cost that most are willing to pay.

As a whole, Otulak’s posts create an overall sense of conflict throughout her blog. On one hand, social media is effective in reaching users across online communities and providing them with information and opportunity for involvement. On the other, it requires little motivation or personal sacrifice to become part of a social cause through these networks. By creating this internal argument, Otulak’s blog is successful in keeping readers interested. While her own opinions are firm and supported by evidence, there is still room for an ongoing debate. Additionally, she also provides links to further reading and videos to offer different perspectives on the topic. This is a quality I hope will feed my own work, as I want to invite active feedback from my readers, and point them to more useful sources. Unfortunately, Otulak’s posts do not allow you to comment back, a clear difference between my blog and hers. While her blog appears to be relatively unpopular, I’m hoping that she will continue posting more frequently to give me future points of discussion.

Welcome!

Welcome to Occupy The Internet. Please like our Facebook page if you are against raising student loan rates, support the #Occupy movements, or feel strongly about voters’ rights. Change your status to this for 24 hours to raise awareness of these issues. 9/10 people will do this, will you?

STOP! Before you go any further, and begin to feel as if you’re making a difference in a relevant social cause, consider the truth… You’re not. Instead, you’ve become another victim of a sweeping social media trend known as Slacktivism. For those readers unfamiliar with this term, it combines the words Slacker and Activist, and describes the “feel good” procedure of posting/blogging/messaging about social issues or causes without taking any literal action. I like to think of it as a “social placebo” – a quick fix that leaves you feeling positive about your effort, but with no physical effect.

Let’s look at a recent example… Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. MLK was a man instrumental in fueling the Civil Rights movement across America, who formed his entire philosophy and work around the action of change. He was a doer, whose actions always spoke louder than his inspiring words. In his remembrance, millions reposted quotes and videos from his famous speeches, and probably felt warm and fuzzy inside for bringing attention to this Holiday on their Facebook or Twitter page. But did anyone go out and do something yesterday, to try and fix a problem with their community or government? My guess is most of us just took the day off.

Another example I like to pick on is a campaign that went viral on Facebook the past two Octobers. Suddenly, women everywhere began posting different colors and patterns to their page: “pink”, “black”, “lace”, “leopard”. But why? In case you missed the message, the colorful statuses revealed what type of bra they had on, and were meant to raise awareness for breast cancer. I ask you, what did this actually accomplish? It did not provide any knowledge about breast cancer, or information regarding volunteer opportunities. It also did not succeed in raising any money, nor did it list any charity partnerships where one could donate. In my opinion, it only left a lot of people asking questions and a lot of men teasingly intrigued. The viral statuses then repeated themselves the following year, only this time revealing where women like to keep their purse, as in,” I like it on the kitchen counter.”

By now you may be thinking that I’m quite the negative skeptic. You may also think that I’m a hypocrite, as all I’m doing is writing about this problem instead of actually doing something. The truth is, I’m a Slacktivist too. We probably all are at one point or another. It’s impossible to get involved with every cause that matters, so telling others about it on the Internet may have to suffice from time to time. Also, from what I’ve read, research shows that Slacktivists are twice as likely to become involved with a cause they post about. In my opinion, the real problem stems from the social media communities. Facebook and Twitter have created the phenomenon of trending, which downplays the real-world importance of many issues and turns them into the “it” topic to post about on any given day. Bringing awareness to issues is definitely a positive effect, but by tomorrow many of them will be forgotten. It is this extremely temporal nature of posts and #hashtags that is holding back the motivation to take action. Is anyone talking about Martin Luther King today on Facebook or Twitter? Or breast cancer? I haven’t seen many.

My goal is that by writing this blog, I can discover how social media influences the (in)effectiveness of social causes, and perhaps what potential it has to improve action among students. I will be posting regularly about these issues, and working towards a detailed research paper that will hopefully answer some of these questions. I’ll leave you with a quote that demands we get up and do something, one I’m sure you’ve read before…

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Ghandhi

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned.