“Activism the doctrine or practice of vigorous action or involvement as a means of achieving political or other goals, sometimes by demonstrations or protests etc. “ (Dictionary.com) There are many ways to show activism, but as the digital world has continued to grow, it is more commonly used online. . The meta activism project builds a toolkit that allows online potential activists to become politically and socially active. Mary Joyce ( Mcmanus, 2010) said that the “practice of using digital technology for political and social change” Facebook and Twitter amongst other social media platforms can be used as a means of protesting and using digital activism. A good example of how Facebook has been used as a way of trying to actively change a social norm was in 2009 when there was a Facebook campaign launched to get “Rage against the machine” to number 1 instead of the X Factor winner. The group claimed that they were fed up of the predictability of the music charts and the success of “The X Factor”. According to the creators of the campaign Jon and Tracey Morter the campaign started out as a “ silly idea that makes you laugh in your own home” ( BBC News, 2009) These platforms are often very cost-effective and bale to reach many people at the same time.
Digital activism follows a hype cycle :
The hype cycle has 5 stages, the technology triggers a buzz, there is a peak of inflated expectations, a trough of disillusionment, slope of enlightenment and a plateau of productivity.
In regards to Twitter a recent article on the BBC News page discussing Oprah winfrey’s first tweet on air during her programme, which led to a 43% increase in traffic to the Twitter website because eof the Oprah effect. However, Twitter has only just peaked in popularity but one of the co-founders Mr Stone said that “ if the early response to the service had not been so positive, it would probably not have survived” ( Shiels, 2009)
Is digital activism a new way to express feelings for change and actually get a result at the end of it? Or is it just a way of causing nuisance? Let me know what you think.
References:
Dictionary.com, definition of Activism. Available from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/activism [ Accessed 20th march 2011]
Macmanus, R., 2010. Digital Activism: an interview with Mary Joyce Avaiable from: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/digital_activism_an_interview_with_mary_joyce.php [Accessed 20th march 2011]
Shiels, M., 2009 Can Twitter survive the hype cycle? BBC News Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8015777.stm [Accessed 20th march 2011]
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