Ice bucket "slacktivism" has been effective in making a huge difference in donations to the ALS Association -
"The ALS Association has received $22.9 million in donations compared to $1.9 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 19). These donations have come from existing donors and 453,210 new donors to The Association." http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-081914.html Kingsley Joseph On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 7:00 AM, Udhay Shankar N <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't always agree with Seth Godin's pronouncements, but this one > got me thinking - both about 'slacktivism', my response to it, and > the often facile denigration of this behaviour as being facile. > > Thoughts? > > Udhay > > http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/08/slacktivism.html > > Slacktivism > > This is far from a new phenomenon. Hundreds of years ago there were > holier-than-thou people standing in the village square, wringing their > hands, ringing their bells and talking about how urgent a problem was. > They did little more than wring their hands, even then. > > In our connected world, though, there are two sides to social media's > power in spreading the word about a charitable cause. > > According to recent data about the ice bucket challenge making the > rounds, more than 90% of the people mentioning it (posting themselves > being doused or passing on the word) didn't make a donation to support > actual research on an actual disease. Sounds sad, no? > > But I think these slacktivists have accomplished two important things > at scale, things that slacktivists have worked to do through the ages: > > They've spread the word. The fact is that most charities have no > chance at all to reach the typical citizen, and if their fundraising > strategy is small donations from many people, this message barrier is > a real issue. Peer-to-peer messaging, even if largely ego-driven, is > far better than nothing. In a sideways media world, the only way to > reach big numbers is for a large number of people to click a few > times, probably in response to a request from a friend. > > Even more important, I think, is that they normalize charitable > behavior. It's easy to find glowing stories and infinite media > impressions about people who win sporting events, become famous or > make a lot of money. The more often our peers talk about a different > kind of heroism, one that's based on caring about people we don't > know, the more likely we are to see this as the sort of thing that > people like us do as a matter of course. > > Spreading the word and normalizing the behavior. Bravo. > > The paradox? As this media strategy becomes more effective and more > common (as it becomes a strategy, not just something that occurs from > the ground up as it did in this case), two things are likely to > happen, both of which we need to guard against: > > Good causes in need of support are going to focus on adding the sizzle > and ego and zing that gets an idea to spread, instead of focusing on > the work. One thing we know about online virality is that what worked > yesterday rarely works tomorrow. A new arms race begins, and in this > case, it's not one that benefits many. We end up developing, "an > unprecedented website with a video walkthrough and internationally > recognized infographics..." (actual email pitch I got while writing > this post). > We might, instead of normalizing the actual effective giving of grants > and donations, normalize slacktivism. It could easily turn out that we > start to emotionally associate a click or a like or a mention as an > actual form of causing change, not merely a way of amplifying a > message that might lead to that action happening. > > The best model I've seen for a cause that's figured out how to walk > this line between awareness and action is charity: water. My friend > Bernadette and I are thrilled to be supporting their latestcampaign. > It would be great if you'd contribute or even better, start a similar > one. > > I think the goal needs to be that activism and action are not merely > the right thing to do, but the expected, normal thing to do. > > Posted by Seth Godin on August 19, 2014 > > > -- > ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com)) > >
