-Paige Day

1. By: Paige Day
Social Clicktivism
How the internet is revolutionizing activism
Photo Source: Unsplash, by Rayi Christian Wicaksono

2. Social Clicktivism:
-the use of digital
communication technologies
in support of worthy causes.h[1]

3. Recently there has been a lot of
skepticism behind online activism…
“Critics argue that getting involved in a charity
through, say, Facebook or Twitter merely creates an
impression of support. They say that social media
makes it all too easy to appear engaged in important
issues without taking any real action, that all the
“likes,” shares and retweets about this issue or that
crisis simply do not yield results that count.”
[1]

4. The internet has become a
revolutionary platform
filled with opportunities….
So what do all these stats mean?
Photo Source: Flickr, “Mobile/iPhone” by Daria

5. That the internet offers AMPLE opportunity
for creating social change and tangible
differences…..
…..yet still many critics argue that a click,
like or share means nothing without action!

6. “But what are they supposed to
do? What beyond spreading
awareness and raising funds to
help those who are doing the
research CAN people do?”[2]
Photo Source: Flickr, by Naomi Green

7. Lets take a look at some of the most successful
online social campaigns…
Photo Source: Flickr, Flickr/magicatwork

8. #BringBackOurGirls
• In April of 2014, 276 school
girls were abducted in the
Nigerian village of Chibok
• This caused global outrage and
so the hashtag was born
• In 3 weeks alone the hashtag
was used over 1 million times
• Notable people including
Barack and Michelle Obama
tweeted out using this hashtag
Photo Source: Flickr, “Zambian African
Children 1” by Simon Berry
[2]
[3]

9. “
Despite the oft-repeated claim that
awareness does nothing, it almost always
does something — something small,
perhaps, but something measurable.”
-Caitlin Dewey
[2]
Photo Source: Flickr, by James Sm

10. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
• 2015 viral campaign where
people dumped buckets of ice
water on themselves in
support of ALS
• Participants had 24hrs to
complete the challenge or
donate $100 to ALS
• This campaign went viral &
earned ALS over $100 million
dollars, compared to the $2.8
raised by them in the same
period the year prior.
• Funds raised have led to
breakthrough research about
slowing down the disease
[4]
: Flickr, “Mission Accomplished - ALS Ice Bucket
by Anthony Quintano

11. “The reality is, overexposure is necessary in
this day and age of constant information. It
takes seven to eight exposures, on average, to
motivate someone to take action.”
–Caitlin Dewey
[2]
Photo Source: Flickr, “Camera”, by Yu-Chan Chen

12. • During March of 2014, the Tap
Project encourage people to take a
break from their phones
• The longer people stay unplugged,
the more money sponsors donate
to UNICEF’s clean water program
• Fifteen minutes of downtime is
equal to one day’s worth of clean
water for a child
• In one year 2.6 million
participants earned more than a
million dollars worth of clean
water funding
The UNICEF Tap
Project
[1]
Photo Source: Flickr, “Water tap”, by Kim Seiver

13. Project Free Rice
• Project Free Rice is a website
where you play online
vocabulary games to earn
real life rice
• For each correct answer they
donate 10 grains of rice to
the United Nations World
Food Program
• To date the project has
donated over 94 billion grains
of rice to countries in need
[5]
Photo Source: Flickr, “Rice”, by Mennonite Board of Missions
Photograph Collection

14. Photo Source: Flickr, “KONY 2012”, by Daniel Lobo
Kony 2012
• A campaign set up by the
NGO Invisible Children to
raise awareness about child
soldiers in Africa
• Featured a viral video to
share their goal of capturing
Joseph Kony (war criminal)
by the end of 2012
• Their pledge gathered over
three and a half million
signatures by April 2012
alone
• #StopKony2012 trended
worldwide and campaign kits
sold out quickly [6]

15. #NoMakeUpSelfie has been a top
trending hashtag used thousands of times
by many women & celebrities including
Beyoncé and Ellen DeGeneres to promote
female empowerment [9]
Photo Source: Flickr, “Project 365 #337: 031213 Made Up!”, by Pete

16. Photo Source: Flickr, “Drowning In Social Media”, by mkhmarketing.wordpress.com
These are examples of how organizations
are utilizing digital technology trends…
& leveraging online channels to make their
presence engaging, productive and meaningful!

17. A 2014 digital activism study
conducted by Cone Communications
surveyed 1,200 Americans. 64%
said they would be more inclined to
support a cause through donations
or volunteering after having “liked”
or followed them on social media. [7]
Photo Source: Flickr, “Cash Money”, by Andy

18. "Twenty years ago a grandmother in Berlin
couldn't have campaigned for gay rights, for
example," said Schott from the online activist
network Avaaz. "It's positive just to show
people what change they can make in places
far away from them.“ [8]
Photo Source: Flickr, “238/365”, by Kim Siever
The internet has made local issues global conversation…

19. Facebook users share more than
25 billion pieces of content each
month (including news stories,
blog posts and photos), and the
average user creates 70 pieces of
content a month. [10]

20. So why not start taking
advantage of it, and stop
dismissing the power
clicktivism?
Photo Source: http://mmtstock.com/ by Jeffrey Betts
The internet is here to stay…

21. References
• Brändlin, A. (2016). Can online campaigns bring offline change? |
#NoEsc | Life Links | DW.COM | 27.06.2015. DW.COM. Retrieved 4
June 2016, from http://www.dw.com/en/lifelinks-noesc-online-
activism-offline-impact/a-18543959 [8]
• Bresciani, S. & Schmeil, A. (2016). Social Media Platforms for Social Good.
Retrieved from
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.queensu.ca/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&
[6]*
• Charities that went viral—and banked big bucks. (2014). CNBC. Retrieved
5 June 2016, from http://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/26/viral-money-5-
hashtags-that-banked-serious-bucks-in-2014.html?slide=2 [9]
• Kielburger, C. & Kielburger, M. (2015). A click is not enough to have
impact on world. canoe.com. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from
http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/World/2015/04/10/22337541.html [7]*
• Molloy, P. (2016). 1 year later, the Ice Bucket Challenge funds this
breakthrough in ALS research.. Upworthy. Retrieved 4 June 2016, from
http://www.upworthy.com/1-year-later-the-ice-bucket-challenge-funds-
this-breakthrough-in-als-research [4]
• Play online, learn online and feed the hungry | Freerice.com. (2016).
Freerice.com | Not Your Average Online Trivia Game. Retrieved 3 June
2016, from http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1404 [5]
• Rosen, J. (2016). The Web Means the End of Forgetting - NYTimes.com.
Nytimes.com. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-
t2.html?pagewanted=all [10]*
• Sharmu, R. (2014). Stop Pouring Ice On Clicktivism. The Huffington
ost. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ritusharma/stop-pouring-ice-on-
click_b_5692555.html [2]*
• Shearlaw, M. (2015). Did the #bringbackourgirls campaign make a
difference in Nigeria?. The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2016, from
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/14/nigeria-
bringbackourgirls-campaign-one-year-on [3]
• Stern, C. (2015). In Praise Of Clicktivism. The Huffington
Post. Retrieved 1 June 2016, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/caryl-m-stern/in-
praise-of-clicktivism_b_6978314.html [1]*
* *Course Content