Clicktivism, or online activism through social media, has become a popular tool for facilitating social change and awareness of causes. While it allows easy and widespread spread of information, some critics argue it requires little real involvement. Studies show clicktivism can translate to offline participation, and social media campaigns like #BringBackOurGirls and the Ice Bucket Challenge raised awareness of issues, though clicking alone may not solve problems. Effective activism requires a hybrid approach using both online and offline tools and continued engagement after initial online attention dies down.

1. HYBRIDIZED ACTIVISM
How Clicktivism Is Activists NewTool For Success

2. ■ It is the use of digital media for facilitating social change and activism. “the use
of social media and other online methods to promote a cause.” (9)
What Is Clicktivism?
What Is Activism?
• the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social
change. (3)
What Is Slacktivism?
• A term Critics use for clicktivism stating : that it is actions performed via the Internet in
support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or
involvement, e.g., signing an online petition or joining a campaign group on a social
media website. (3)

3. of surveyed activists … said they were activists
before they began using Social Networking Sites, the
majority have come to rely on
Facebook and Twitter
to spread information and mobilize supporters both
online and offline (3)
Survey done in USA and Latin America by
Information, Communication & Society
journal stated that
¾

4. Why Does this Mobilization Matter to a
social cause or movement?
■ It creates the spread of information and awareness, with easy
online access, banking in on peoples use of the internet (4)
Social Networking Sites Make this Easier!
As Lavalle stated in her school newspaper at St.Catherines University
“I think that there’s a really interesting climate for activism now, with
social media creating an opportunity that we didn’t have before–
organizers can reach worldwide to crowd source and gain support, I
think that it’s amazing, and personally, I’ve found ways to plug into
social movements through social media that I otherwise wouldn’t
have known about/been able to access (12)

5. online social media networks have simply
replaced door to door tactics, photocopies,
faxes and mailed actions alerts are now
emails, Facebook alerts and tweets. (5)
As David Karpf of Rutgers University in his
studies he found that:

6. “We believe that in order to gain support and greater
visibility, we should be where the action is …
ONLINE”
“we can’t ignore the role that technology and digital
activism can play in service to our overall mission” (10)

7. HOWEVER….

8. Critics FEAR that:
“The resulting waves of minimal-effort
engagement hold long-term costs for the
public sphere, either by further dispiriting the
issue publics who find their
online petitions and e-comments ignored, or by
crowding out more
substantive participatory efforts” (5)

9. #BRINGBACKOURGIRL
S■ A world wide campaign that is
about the Nigerian radical Islamic
Militia violently opposed to western
education and culture whom
abducting 270 schoolgirls. (6)
■ Outraged Nigerians took to social
media with the hashtag
#BringBackOurGirls, which swept
around the world in more than three
million retweets. (6)
■ But 1 year later… this campaign has
not brought back our girls (6)
“It’s a sad illustration of the limitations of “clicktivism” —
the use of online media to advance causes” (6)

10. BUT…
■ Social MediaActivism is a tool not the entire
campaign E-petitions, Likes, andTweets are
mobilization efforts not a replacement of on the
ground activism. (3)
■ “There must be a plan to engage supporters once
they’ve clicked and keep them engaged after the
hashtag stops trending.” (10)

11. HYBRIDIZED WORLD
=
HYBRIDIZED ACTIVISM
social media platforms have already been successfully used for social
good, for organizing community activism, for empowering citizens, and
for coordinating in emergency situations (1)

12. Haiti and China earthquakes
■ Volunteers uploaded their information and pictures in realtime, so that
maps of the environment could be created, to support the coordination
and the actions of the rescue teams. However social media can also be
hijacked by powerful players that aim to drive away the attention of the
public from specific topics, to stop the spread of information or the
organization of protests (1)

13. #BLACKLIVESMATTER
• #BlackLivesMatter was predicated on the
populist logic of Silicon Valley — that
anyone with an idea can harness
communications technology to start a
global social movement.(8)
• #BlackLivesMatter became the touchstone
for a new generation of voices that
challenged the organizational structure of
civil rights activists of the previous
generation (8)
• The movement of the trending hashtag
translated to online and offline participation.
The online activism created a connection
among people from all over the world
sparking a civil rights movement (8)

14. ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE
• The ice bucket challenge was a viral campaign to raise awareness about
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, by posting a video of dumping a bucket of ice on
you and challenging friends and family to do the same or to donate to the cause.
These videos became a trend, with famous actors, musicians ect posting videos
and donate. (9)

15. SUCCESS!
• $15.6 million raised from July 29 to August 18, with $8 million raised between
August 14 and 18 alone!
increase compared to what was raise during the same period last year! (9)
800%

16. ACTIVISM
• Studies found that online participation translates to offline participation as
well
• More than half of us — 52 percent — go online to discuss what’s on our
minds, according to a 2014 survey by Cone Communications.
• Among millennials: it’s 71%
• Additionally Americans aged 18 and older, on average, spend about an hour
a day on the Internet on their computers, and at least another hour or so
accessing apps and the Web, according to Nielsen. (10)

17. ■ WithoutTwitter the people of Iran would not have felt
empowered and confident to stand up for freedom and
democracy,” (2)
■ Mark Pfeifle, a former national-security adviser, later
wrote, calling forTwitter to be nominated for the Nobel
Peace Prize. (2)
■ Here activists were once defined by their causes, they
are now defined by their tools. Facebook warriors go
online to push for change. (2)
Social Media Success

18. Increase in involvement compared to
previous years
■ As another example, 12% of our respondents said to have ‘‘joined
or organized a demonstration’’ ‘‘sometimes’’ to ‘‘very often,’’ and
4% said to have done that ‘‘often’’ or ‘‘very often.’’ (4)
■ In comparison, in 2006 only 8% of the 18- to 25-year-old had
‘‘participated’’ (once or more) in a demonstration (CBS, 2010). (4)

19. Caitlin Dewey of the Washington Post said:
“Despite the oft-repeated claim that awareness does
nothing, it almost always does something — something
small, perhaps, but something measurable.” (9)
Sometimes voicing dissent (or support) is the only power we have. To call it
meaningless or lazy is just another way of keeping progress at bay, and to
alienate potential allies

20. Online Petitions and Social Networking
sites
■ They provide such a constant buzz for people who are trying to get a
message out; every day you have more retweets, more likes, more
signatures on the petition; An online petition is a brilliant way to spread
the word and sense the breadth of support for a campaign (11)

21. Social Media Revolution: Use it or Fall
Behind
■ Social Media Campaigns are the tools of future activism, and activist need to use these
platforms to their advantages or they will fall behind.
■ the world, we are told, is in the midst of a revolution.The new tools of social media
have reinvented social activism.With Facebook andTwitter and the like, the
traditional relationship between political authority and popular will has been upended,
making it easier for the powerless to collaborate, coordinate, and give voice to their
concerns. (2)

22. ■ (1)Bresciano, S & Schmeil, A. (2012) Social media platforms for social good. Institute for Media
and Communications Management, University of St. Gallen.
■ (2) Gladwell, M. (2010, October 27). Small Change
■ (3) Harlow, S., & Harp, D. (2012). COLLECTIVE ACTION ON THE WEB. Information,
Communication & Society, 15(2), 196-216.
■ (4) Hirzalla, F., & Zoonen, L. (2011). Beyond the Online/Offline divide: How Youth’s online and
offline civic activities converge. Social Science Computer Review, 29(4), 481-498.
■ (5)Karpf, D. (2010). Online political mobilization from the advocacy group's perspective: Looking
beyond clicktivism. Policy & Internet, 2(4), 7-41
■ (6) Kielburger, C., & Kielburger, M. (2015, April 10). A click is not enough to have impact on
world.
■ (7) Lenhart, A. (2015). Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015.
■ (8) Obourn, E. (2015, January 13). How #BlackLivesMatter became a worldwide rallying cry.
■ (9) Sharma, R. (2014, August 20). Stop Pouring Ice on Clicktivism.
■ (10)Stern, C. M. (2015, June 31). In Praise of Clicktivism.
■ (11) Walter, N. (2015, June 07). To create a buzz, go online. To create real change, go out and
protest | Natasha Walter.
■ (12) Walter, N. (2015, June 07). To create a buzz, go online. To create real change, go out and
protest | Natasha Walter.
■ (13) Wallingford, E. (2015, February 09). Social media provides a new way to be an activist
through