Activism:
The definition that google gives is "The policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change." This is the definition we will be using, but in the context of social media.
Activism
Slacktivism
Slacktivism is posting about an issue on social media, using a hashtag, donating a little money, but not doing too much overall. It is more virtue signaling than actually caring about the issue and trying to fix it.
Slacktivism
Uses:
Both activism and slacktivism are used in social media campaigns. Generally, social media campaigns spread and become popular through slacktivism, and then some people will actually take up the cause and become activists.
Social media really helps to make this possible, because you can see things on the internet, and then share it for all of your friends, and then everyone gets to see it, and support it if they want to. This cannot happen on other platforms, because social media is the only place where it can start from individual people, and then be taken up by many others, rather than having to be started by someone famous or well known or rich, as it has to be everywhere else.
Activism and Slacktivism work together, hand in hand on most social media campaigns. First, there are the activists (or slacktivists) who start the campaign, and then to spread. Social media campaigns spread through all of the slacktivists who just share it, and it then reaches more people. Some of these people will, depending on the campaign, become activists and further the movement.
In the social media campaign #thedress, the whole campaign was based on slactivism, not activism at all. The goal of the campaign was to raise awareness of abusive relationships and what to do if you are in one, so all that needed to happen was for people to share the message, or actually do anything.
The social media campaign #blacklivesmatter, however, was a lot more activism. The use of the hashtag exploded after the events in Sanford, Florida, when Trayvon Martin was shot by George Zimmerman. There were probably some slacktivists, but thousands of people attended protests and rallies with this campaign.
Slacktivism isn't a bad way to contribute to a social media campaign, because it is how campaigns grow and become popular, However, if nobody isn't becomes an activist, then nothing will be accomplished.
Activism and Slacktivism work together, hand in hand on most social media campaigns. First, there are the activists (or slacktivists) who start the campaign, and then to spread. Social media campaigns spread through all of the slacktivists who just share it, and it then reaches more people. Some of these people will, depending on the campaign, become activists and further the movement.
In the social media campaign #thedress, the whole campaign was based on slactivism, not activism at all. The goal of the campaign was to raise awareness of abusive relationships and what to do if you are in one, so all that needed to happen was for people to share the message, or actually do anything.
The social media campaign #blacklivesmatter, however, was a lot more activism. The use of the hashtag exploded after the events in Sanford, Florida, when Trayvon Martin was shot by George Zimmerman. There were probably some slacktivists, but thousands of people attended protests and rallies with this campaign.
Slacktivism isn't a bad way to contribute to a social media campaign, because it is how campaigns grow and become popular, However, if nobody isn't becomes an activist, then nothing will be accomplished.
Next time you see a social media campaign that you can get on board, I challenge you to go one step further than slacktivism,and actually do some activism.
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