Clicktivism

Why Every Click Counts

Photo: Caden Crawford, Flickr

By: Rob Leckie

Everyones a Critic

Critics argue that clicktivism fails to

generate substantive change, and prevents

more meaningful social action by creating the

illusion of doing something, while doing

almost nothing. (Kielburger and Kielburger 2015)

but these critics misunderstand what clicktivism is Photo: Marcie Casas, Flickr

Clicktivism is not exclusively the support or promotion of a cause online. It is the use of digital media for facilitating social change and activism. More often than not this takes the form of supporting and promoting a cause on social media, but it can include a whole a range of activities... -Clicktivist.org (Sharma 2014)

Photo: LaVladina, Flickr

Clicktivism is excellent at generating awareness

(which is intrinsically valuable) (Buckman, 2014)

Photo: Zoi Koraki, Flickr

Despite the oft-repeated claim that awareness does nothing,

it almost always does something something small, perhaps, but something measurable. -Kaitlin Dewey, Washington Post (Sharma 2014)

Clicktivism Works!

Clicktivism Works!

Photo: Kheel Center (photographer unknown), Flickr

Often whatever social change these movements are pushing for doesn't happen for years or decades, but that doesn't mean that they didn't

make a difference.

If we think of social movements as engines for creating awareness that can eventually help them push for that change in the form of legislation,

then raising awareness is important.

-Sandra Gonzalez-Bailo (Kolowich 2016, A4)

The clicktivism and resultant awareness created by the #BlackLivesMatter campaign has led to significant shifts in

government policy and police procedure:

50,000 police body cameras

Police Community Trust-Building Task Forces

Death in Custody Reporting Act Requires law enforcement officials to report deaths of people killed during arrest or in police custody (All Brewster 2014)

Phil Roeder

Photo: Phil Roeder, Flickr

The #BringBackOurGirls campaign is often cited as

an example of failed clicktivism

but the awareness brought to the cause has

been instrumental in spurring the admittedly

small search for the Chibok girls

(Buckman 2014)

Photo: Xavier J. Peg, Flickr

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge A Resounding Example of the Power of Clicktivism

$15.6 million raised from July 29 to August 18 (Sharma 2014)

800% increase in funding Y.O.Y. (Sharma 2014)

Photo: UK Department for International Development , Flickr

UNICEF Tap Project

15 Minutes of Digital Detox

1 days supply of clean drinking water for a child (Stern 2015)

2014: 2.6 million participants and $1 million generated (Stern 2015)

Photo: Donna Todd , Flickr

UNICEF Kid Power

Monitored Physical Activity

Funding for treatment for malnourished children (Stern 2014)

Photo: R. Nial Bradshaw, Flickr

So Whats The Point?

Clicktivism is capable of generating social good by creating awareness and pressuring elected officials, even when

activism does not make the jump from online to offline

Photo: Lucja ONeill, Flickr

So Whats The Point?

People who protest by casually liking or retweeting political content online do have an impact

modern protests have a minority who are physically active and a much larger group dubbed the critical periphery -

who may tweet about it only once or twice but are responsible for doubling the protests reach.

-UPenn and NYU study (All Mortimer 2015)

Photo: Gato-Gato-Gato, Flickr

Social media presence can give visibility to unknown facts, having an impact on policy-makers agenda setting, by making

invisible people more visible.

(Bresciani and Schmeil 2012, n.p.)

Clicktivism is also a more accessible form of activism for those who cannot leave home. This group may include the elderly, caretakers, those with disabilities, or those with young

children. (Khan-Ibarra 2014)

This inclusiveness means that clicktivism is capable of representing more diverse voices. (Khan-Ibarra 2014)

Photo: Grey World, Flickr

Critics argue that clicktivism displaces offline activism. But in reality, clicktivism often precipitates offline activism.

those who support movements online are

actually more likely to engage in activism in

real life. (Groetzinger 2015)

Photo: a2gemma, Flickr

Thus, social media, and clicktivism in particular, is likely to provide a new first rung on the engagement ladder

(Matrix 2016)

Photo: Lin Wu, Flickr

Unfortunately, clicktivism, as a mode of participation, has been largely marginalized

(Halupka 2014, 118)

Photo: cactusbeetroot, Flickr

There is no hope of encouraging stakeholders to take deeper actions unless they feel that their initial current level of

activism is appreciated and important. (Matrix 2016)

When we use pejoratives such as slacktivism to describe online activism, we disenfranchise prospective activists and tip the engagement ladder

before these participants have a chance to climb to higher levels of engagement.

Photo: INTVGene, Flickr

We must stop

vilifying clicktivism

Ultimately, every little bit of activism adds up

(Matrix 2016)

Photo: Sean McEntee, Flickr

Any effort to amplify the effort of a

worthwhile cause online has impact. (Matrix 2016)

Photo: Thomas Angermann, Flickr

Citations Andresen, Katya. 2011. Why Slacktavism is Underrated. Mashable, October 24. Bresciani, Sabrina, and A. Schmeil. 2012. Social Media PlaKorms for Social Good. 6th IEEE

Interna/onal Conference on Digital Ecosystems and Technologies (DEST):1-6. Brewster, Shaquille. 2014. APer Ferguson: Is 'Hashtag AcVvism' Spurring Policy Changes? NBC

News, December 12. Buckman, Celia. 2014. The Limits of Hashtag AcVvism. Huffington Post, September 12. Groetzinger, Kate. 2015. SlackVvism is Having a Powerful Real-World Impact, New Research

Shows. Quartz, December 10. Halupka, Max. 2014. ClickVvism: A SystemaVc HeurisVc. Policy & Internet 6 (2): 115-132. Khan-Ibarra, Sabina. 2014. The Case for Social Media and Hashtag AcVvism. Huffington Post,

November 13.

Citations Continued

Kielburger, Craig, and Marc Kielburger. 2015. A Click Is Not Enough to Have Impact on the World. Canoe, April 10.

Kolowich, Steve. (2016). In Modest Defense of 'SlackVvism'. The Chronicle of Higher Educa/on

62(18): A14. Matrix, Sydney Eve. 2016. Module 4: Social Good. Lecture presented for FILM 260, May 30. MorVmer, Caroline. 2015. 'SlackVvism' Works: Study Shows People Who Like and Retweet

PoliVcal Slogans Help Protesters Spread Their Message. Independent, December 8. Sharma, Ritu. 2014. Stop Puring Ice on ClickVvism. Huffington Post, August 20. Stern, Carole. 2015. In Praise of ClickVvism. Huffington Post, March 31.