{"id":4541,"date":"2010-09-28T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-28T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.transversalmedia.eu\/clicking-on-a-paypal-button-is-not-activism\/"},"modified":"2010-09-28T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-28T15:30:00","slug":"clicking-on-a-paypal-button-is-not-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theresearchpapers.org\/archive\/clicking-on-a-paypal-button-is-not-activism\/","title":{"rendered":"Clicking on a Paypal button is not activism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The October issue of The New Yorker has an extensive piece by Malcolm Gladwell on the issue of \u201con line activism<\/em>\u201d<\/a>. Gladwell makes a point of presenting the (by now not very novel) argument that online activism is pointless and pretty much diluted. From the piece:<\/p>\n

\n

The evangelists of social media don\u2019t understand this distinction; they seem to believe that a Facebook friend is the same as a real friend and that signing up for a donor registry in Silicon Valley today is activism in the same sense as sitting at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro in 1960. \u201cSocial networks are particularly effective at increasing motivation,\u201d Aaker and Smith write. But that\u2019s not true. Social networks are effective at increasing participation\u2014by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires. The Facebook page of the Save Darfur Coalition has 1,282,339 members, who have donated an average of nine cents apiece. The next biggest Darfur charity on Facebook has 22,073 members, who have donated an average of thirty-five cents. Help Save Darfur has 2,797 members, who have given, on average, fifteen cents. A spokesperson for the Save Darfur Coalition told Newsweek, \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t necessarily gauge someone\u2019s value to the advocacy movement based on what they\u2019ve given. This is a powerful mechanism to engage this critical population. They inform their community, attend events, volunteer. It\u2019s not something you can measure by looking at a ledger.\u201d In other words, Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But here\u2019s why I think Gladwell misses the mark on the topic: social media was never meant as a tool for activism in the first place. It is a tool to spread ideas, to \u201cinfect minds<\/em>\u201d with new possible ways of thinking. I am well aware of the risks (echo chamber being a significant one), but, if anything, social media is a way of being heard and challenging existing forms of media distribution. Also, as noble and important as a \u201cSave Darfur\u201d project is, I do not think it has the same impact, in people\u2019s minds, as \u201cSave whatever needs to be saved locally, that impacts my community directly<\/em>\u201d. Unless someone runs a local chapter of Save Darfur, where people have the possibility to meet and discuss local actions, a virtual space to raise awareness on Darfur is only going to \u201craise awareness\u201d (as tautological as this may sound). It is not a call to action. Donating money, unless in the face of a recent catastrophe is not a mobilizing tool. People suffer from \u201cphilanthropic causes fatigue\u201d. It is difficult to convince someone (people who are generally dealing with their own financial issues to begin with) to part with their money. Besides, I do not think there is anything remotely romantic in donating money (which is a basic \u201cfeel good\u201d requirement to engage people to donate in the first place). Those who are sensitive to social causes would probably want more than to be seen as a \u201ccash cow\u201d on a Facebook page.<\/p>\n

If activism is to succeed using social media it is not by asking people to hit a PayPal button, but by organizing hyperlocal, rhizomatic groups that engage in concrete actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The October issue of The New Yorker has an extensive piece by Malcolm Gladwell on the issue of \u201con line activism\u201d. Gladwell makes a point of presenting the (by now not very novel) argument that online activism is pointless and pretty much diluted. From the piece: The evangelists of social media don\u2019t understand this distinction; …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"loftocean_post_format_gallery":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_ids":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_urls":"","loftocean_post_format_video_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_video_url":"","loftocean_post_format_video_type":"","loftocean_post_format_video":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_type":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_url":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_audio":"","loftocean-featured-post":"","loftocean-like-count":0,"loftocean-view-count":992,"loftocean_coauthors":"","alpaca_post_content_reading_setting":"","alpaca_reading_speed_per_minute":0,"alpaca_reading_speed_unit":"","alpaca_single_post_template_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[90,36],"class_list":["post-4541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-activism","tag-social-media"],"yoast_head":"\nClicking on a Paypal button is not activism - The Research Papers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theresearchpapers.org\/archive\/clicking-on-a-paypal-button-is-not-activism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Clicking on a Paypal button is not activism - The Research Papers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The October issue of The New Yorker has an extensive piece by Malcolm Gladwell on the issue of \u201con line activism\u201d. 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