Digital
Revolution
(Kelley 2013)
A digital revolution is upon us. Social activism has been
reinvented due to social media and the expanding use of digital technologies,
especially via mobile platforms. The term used to describe the emergence of
activism activities or practices that use digital network infrastructure is ‘digital
activism’. This growth in new digital technologies of recent allows for large
groups of people to interact easily with each other, exchange ideas,
co-ordinate acts and thus aid in creating effective social and political
movements (Sivitanides & Shah 2011, p.1-2).
Social
media platforms such as Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and blogs are vital
communication mediums used by organisations involved in digital activism to
convey their messages to the largest possible audiences as well as raising
funds for these campaigns. Digital activism is found to be most effective when
social media is combined with street level organisation. A recent study found
most digital activism campaigns are non-violent, contrary to what most people
think. It was also found that campaigns against a government tend to be more successful
than those against corporations, and the most successful campaigns use multiple
digital tools (Kelley 2013).
There
are countless examples of the growing effectiveness of digital activism
campaigns spilling over into the real world. Within politics it has shown to be extremely influential. A
powerful example of this can be found in 2008 when political activism helped
carry Barrack Obama into the White House. That election campaign displayed how influential
and vital gaining digital followers and engaging with audiences via social
media is within political circles. This is especially important in gaining
support from younger digital savvy generations (Carswell 2013).
An
example of digital activism against corporations that I find very intriguing is
Adbusters. They
conduct various effective anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism campaigns that
are popular in the United States. Adbusters is a culture jammer network that is
active via its website and has gained a large following across various social
media platforms. It campaigns hard against the needless and over consumption of
material goods. An example of these campaigns is the current one that
encourages consumers to ‘buy nothing this xmas’ and
instead donate to your favourite non-government organization (NGO) (Adbusters
2013). Another campaign called ‘buy nothing day’ is held annually after thanksgiving in the United States. These
campaigns are effective in displaying the disparities between societies, those
that consume vast amounts of resources and those who struggle to feed their citizens
and provide them with the basics (Ibrahim 2013).
It will be interesting to see where we head with digital
activism. Will it remain powerful enough to make long lasting sustained change
that sees equality and benefit for all?
References:
Adbusters 2013, ‘Buy nothing xmas’, Adbusters blog, 11 December, viewed 17 December, <https://www.adbusters.org/blogs/bnd-xmas-2014.html>.
Carswell, A 2013, ‘Rahaf Harfoush says digital activism must spill over into the real world’, Daily Telegraph, 4 August, viewed 17 December, <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/rahaf-harfoush-says-digital-activism-must-spill-over-into-the-real-world/story-fni0cwl5-1226690685749>.
Ibrahim, F 2013, Adbusters,
Fawzi Ibrahim, viewed 17 December 2013, <https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd>.
Kelley, P 2013, ‘Study shines light on what makes digital
activism effective, University of
Washington, 20 November, viewed 17 December, <http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/11/20/study-shines-light-on-what-makes-digital-activism-effective/>.
Sivitanides, M & Shah, V 2011, ‘The era of digital
activism’, Conference for Information
Systems Applied Research, McCoy College of Business.
