Clicktivism (Slacktivism) gets a bad rap and in some cases for good reason. I have a huge amount of respect, appreciation and gratitude for people who truly care about a cause and do all that they can to assist a cause in striving for the betterment of society, but if you’re doing it for the Gram . . . not so much.
Social media environments have brought about a new form of political participation which is refereed to as Clicktivism or Slacktivism, but this idealist form of activism usually doesn’t last very long and has very little if any effect on the actual issue it purports to be fighting for (Halupka, 2018).
Former US President Barack Obama said in 2019 that change was complex and required more than calling people out on social media (BBC News 2019). With this, I have to somewhat agree, we all have that friend that shares EVERY.SINGLE.CAUSE on Facebook. Without fail, every time! It’s essential that you stand for some, as the old saying goes if your stand for nothing, you fall for everything . . . but is standing for everything somewhat the reverse? If you say you stand for ALL these causes, do you really care about the actual outcome of any of them at all?
With this said online activism does have its place and can lead to real change, take the #MeToo movement for example. The effects of this 2017 viral social media hashtag movement are still reverberating around the world and leading to actual change to this day (The Washington Post 2020). The Me Too Movement was founded in 2006 by survivor and activist Tarana Burke and when the #MeToo hashtag went viral in 2017 it alerted and really woke a lot of people up to just how big of an issue sexual violence was within the world, it wasn’t nearly as rare as some people had once thought it to be and it’s viral nature brought about real change. People from all walks of life came forward to share their stories, their courage to do so inspired others to do the same and perpetrators of these crimes were actually brought to justice as their victims were liberated and no longer shamed into silence.
Most recently the #MeToo movement has made a huge impact in China. In July allegations surfaced against a Chinese-Canadian pop superstar, Kris Wu, and just last week he was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a teenager (Steger 2021). Even in a country where all forms of media are heavily controlled, this movement continues to make real change and that says something for online activism.
So, is clicktivism good or bad? I guess it’s a bit of both, we can feel like we are drowning in causes online, how do you pick what you should and shouldn’t share? How do you tell the causes striving for real change from the ones that are just going to go viral and nowhere else ala KONY2012? Real change can come from online activism and where change needs to happen, you should absolutely share it, but maybe like in the case of the many of the successful #MeToo shares you should share it with why it matters to you.
References
BBC News 2019, Barack Obama challenges 'woke' culture, BBC News, viewed 22 August 2021, <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50239261 >.
Halupka, M., 2018. The legitimisation of clicktivism, Australian Journal of Political Science, 53:1, 130-141, DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2017.1416586
Me too 2021, Get to know us, Me too, viewed 22 August 2021, <https://metoomvmt.org/get-to-know-us/history-inception/>.
Invisible Children 2021, KONY2012, viewed 22 August 2021, <https://invisiblechildren.com/kony-2012/>.
Steger, I. 2021, China’s #MeToo Movement Rises Again With High-Profile Accusations, Bloomberg, viewed 22 August 2021, <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-08-19/china-s-metoo-movement-rises-again-with-high-profile-accusations>.
The Washington Post 2020, #MeToo is at a crossroads in America. Around the world, it’s just beginning., The Washington Post, viewed 22 August 2021 <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/08/metoo-around-the-world/>.
Woman Masked by Hashtag [image] 2020, Sonia Kretschmar for The Washington Post, viewed 22 August 2021 <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/08/metoo-around-the-world/>.
Hi Nerissa,
First and foremost excellent post! I could not agree with you more when you referenced activism and your one friend that gets involved in every cause on social media. I think that these kinds of people, or 'slacktivists', do actually care about the cause, however, I think they are really just riding the proverbial wave on social media rather than participating in real activism. This form of digital activism hardly takes any energy and effort to become involved and makes people feel as though they are fighting for the greater good by merely hitting the 'like, subscribe' and 'share' buttons. With that said, I do believe that much of the digital activism that is shared on soci…