Real Change or Slactivism?

                Social media is seen as having great potential for social change. As with any platform, there are critics and valid concerns around this issue, as Malcolm Gladwell presents in his article “Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted”. There are points in the article that can’t be denied—social change has been a massive part of history, and often takes great physical effort to be realized. I agree with Gladwell’s points if not his overall message. Slacktivism is real for some people, but it is not the majority face of the platform.

                Large campaigns using social media do tend to fizzle out before much is achieved. Unless a certain amount of viral notoriety is found, these campaigns are made up of too many unique, out of sync pieces to not have their issues. Such large campaigns will always start up and face many obstacles on the road to completion. In fact, I believe many people who become active within campaigns don’t understand what they should be doing for a successful end result. Such articles as “8 Tips for Effectively Using Social Media for Social Change” review key steps that many campaigns lack, although there has been a substantial learning curve as of late with modern campaigns.

                I don’t believe this discredits the power of social media as a tool for activism. There is power in pursuing such powerful goals. Instead, I believe it shows that how people plan and deliver their ideas are developing. Attempts at change with measurable success do exist, outlined in such review articles as Ravi Kumar’s “Social Media and Social Change” and Henry Timms’ “Creating Social Change with Social Media”. These successes exist and the vast majority of social media users do believe there is room for change in everyday life, political matters, and general goodwill.

                Smaller campaigns do of course have the largest foothold in the environment of social media. There is a closeness to how people take key issues they identify with and break them into smaller pieces for a tangible impact. Often these succeed for the simple fact they have an immediate, noticed impact. A goal is met quickly in smaller scale attempts. Micro-philanthropy succeeds in many ways—first and foremost for being entirely accessible and feasible for a great deal of people. These smaller efforts, from grading school effectiveness to offering small donations to sharing information, make differences of their own.

Slacktivism is real, and large social change campaigns are met with many failures. This does not mean that social media is not an accessible method of beginning long term changes and for making messages heard. The methods to use these platforms are evolving, and I believe that as time goes on people will be able to take the success of small campaigns and apply them to larger, more visible successes in social activism.

Works Cited

Gladwell, Malcolm. “Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 4 Oct 2010. Web. 14 July 2016.

James, Jennifer. “8 Tips for Effectively Using Social Media for Social Change.” Impatient Optimists. Impatient Optimists, 20 Mar 2013. Web. 14 July 2016.

Kumar, Ravi. “Social Media and Social Change: How Young People are Tapping into Technology.” The World Bank. The World Bank, 14 Jan 2013. Web. 14 July 2016.

Timms, Henry. “Creating Social Change with Social Media.” Harvard Business Review. Harvard Business Review, 25 Mar 2013. Web. 14 July 2016.