From slacktivism to activism. Below is the text of a talk about "slacktivism" - a subject that has received considerable attention on this blog and elsewhere - that I delivered at Festival Ars Electronica this morning (the session was dedicated to "cloud intelligence"). As someone who studies how the Internet affects global politics, I've grown increasingly skeptical of numerous digital activism campaigns that attempt to change the world through Facebook and Twitter.
To explain why, let me first tell you a story about a campaign that has gone wrong. If you have been to Copenhagen, you probably have seen the Stork Fountain, the city's famous landmark. A few months ago, a Danish psychologist Anders Colding-Jørgensen, who studies how ideas spread online, used Facebook to conduct a little experiment using the Stork Fountain as his main subject. This broaches an interesting question: why do people join Facebook groups in the first place? Take a popular Facebook group "saving the children of Africa.
" Millennial Activism: Is it Activism 2.0 or Slacktivism? | Social Citizens Blog. Slacktivism. Slacktivism (sometimes slactivism or slackervism) is a portmanteau 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 take satisfaction from the feeling they have contributed. The acts tend to require minimal personal effort from the slacktivist. The underlying assumption being promoted by the term is that these low cost efforts substitute for more substantive actions rather than supplementing them, although this assumption has not been borne out by research.[1] The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS describes the term "slacktivist", saying it "posits that people who support a cause by performing simple measures are not truly engaged or devoted to making a change".[4] Use[edit] The term appears to have been coined by Dwight Ozard and Fred Clark in 1995 at the Cornerstone Festival.
Types[edit] Slacktivisme. Le slacktivism, ou comment militer dans son canapé. Le mois dernier, près de 100 000 internautes dans le monde ont troqué leur photo de profil Facebook pour celle d’un personnage de dessin animé des années 80-90. Simple vague de nostalgie au départ, l’opération vise rapidement à lutter contre les violences infligées aux enfants.
Pourtant le débat tourne davantage au "T’étais plutôt Goldorak ou Candy ? " qu’au sort des enfants battus. Qu’importe, cette campagne non officielle met du baume au coeur des "bienfaiteurs". Comme l’an dernier quand toutes les filles se sont mises à déballer la couleur de leur soutif pour lutter contre le cancer du sein. Le “slacktivism” (ou activisme mou) prend de l’ampleur depuis quelques années.
Dans la vie de tous les jours, les “feignactivistes” portent un bracelet contre la pollution. Tout le monde clique, mais qui agit concrètement ? “Les militants étaient autrefois définis par leurs causes, ils sont aujourd’hui définis par leurs outils.” Sur Internet, la prudence s’impose Plus besoin de choisir. The brave new world of slacktivism. Last week, The Globe and Mail ran an article on the history of “slacktivism” (the G&M piece seems to have grown out of an interview I did with CBC's Spark a few weeks ago on the same subject). "Slacktivism" is an apt term to describe feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact.
It gives those who participate in "slacktivist" campaigns an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything more than joining a Facebook group. Remember that online petition that you signed and forwarded to your entire contacts list? That was probably an act of slacktivism... "Slacktivism" is the ideal type of activism for a lazy generation: why bother with sit-ins and the risk of arrest, police brutality, or torture if one can be as loud campaigning in the virtual space?
Of course, the ideal case here is when one's participation in digital activism doesn't subtract from -- and instead enhances -- one's eagerness to participate in real-life campaigns. Slacktivism. Why Slacktivism Is Underrated. Katya Andresen is chief strategy officer of Network for Good, author of Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes and blogs at nonprofitmarketingblog.com. You can find her on Twitter @katyaN4G. So called "slacktivists" take easy, social actions in support of a cause – signing a petition, liking a Facebook Page or putting a pink ribbon on their avatar. But that’s pretty much where their involvement ends, right? Slacktivists tend to get a bad rap: they lack real commitment, care only about self-satisfaction and don’t contribute to meaningful change.
So, why waste time with these lightweight social activists? Because new research shows just how valuable social actions (however easy) can be. The Dynamics of Cause Engagement study by Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication and Ogilvy Worldwide shows slacktivists (whom I prefer to call “social champions”) are more likely to take meaningful actions. The bottom line? Don’t stereotype slacktivists.