Well. No wonder my Twitter feed has been clogged with #stopkony hashtags in the past few days. Eager to learn more, I spent the afternoon Googling related articles. Today's blog entry was already forming in my head: "Social Media and Viral Marketing: Today's Superheroes!" Forget the Avengers!
Instead, what I found was a heated debate on the authenticity of the entire campaign. The backlash came as quickly as the views rose. KONY 2012 is a scam. KONY 2012 is sentimental and paternalistic. KONY 2012 promotes slacktivism.
What?
Slacktivism: A term formed out of the words slacker and activism. The word is usually considered a pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction. (Wikipedia)
Ah. Can't say it doesn't fit the bill. How many of these viewers or Facebook fans have actually done something to help, other than share the video? On the other hand, supporters argue that sharing is helping--at least, it doesn't hurt the cause. A million slacktivists is still better than nobody caring. Right?
Other "slacktivist" campaigns that you may have encountered in the past year:
Breast Cancer Awareness Facebook Meme
Stop Child Abuse Facebook Meme
What do you guys think? Does "slacktivism" oversimplify important issues and promote laziness? Or does it harness the power of viral marketing and social media to spread the word and create real change?
xoxo
Mae
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