Jaime Yap Dr. L. Robinson ENGL 1130.008 5 Aug 2015 Essays - Culture

Jaime Yap Dr. L. Robinson ENGL 1130.008 5 Aug 2015 The Role and Effectiveness of Social Media in Online Activism/How Your " Likes " Actually Affect Social Movements?/ More than just a Thumbs Up: How far a Like ' goes for social movements/ What your Like ' Really Means As you are mindlessly scrolling through Facebook to pass the time, you scroll past all the cat videos and boring status updates, but you notice a trend of people dumping ice water over their heads repeatedly showing up on your feed. You are intrigued and amused at the hilarity of their reactions, and you cannot help but to be drawn to the novelty of it all. The Ice Bucket Challenge has garnered a tremendous amount of media attention due to its viral nature with over 17 million people uploading their challenges on Facebook and plenty of celebrities joining in the social movement, all in the name of raising awareness and funds to find a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( ALS). But what is the true motivator that drives people to participate in this challenge? Are they not deterred by the rules of the challenge: get drenched by a bucket of ice water and donate any amount of your choice or donate $100 to the organization? Is it just a test of bravery, a submission to peer pressure or a sincere act of support? How effective can social media be in social activism? Though it has been proven that social media acts as a platform for advocacy organizations to reach a wider range of audiences, faster communication speeds. In this paper, I will discuss the motivations behind participating in social activism, compare the methodology and results of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge social movement and the #StopYulin2015 movement, as well as argue that though social media is effective in facilitating civic engagement and collective action from the public, it fails to make a difference in the outcome of the social issue or achieve the social campaign ' s goals . In a world of hashtags and viral videos, it is easy to share information with just a click of a mouse. This has given rise to the term slacktivism ' defined as " a ctions 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 " according to the Oxford English Dictionary . These developments in the world of social movements are especially prevalent and important when considering the question of how personal engagement levels affect the effectiveness of social media in online activism . The cost of participation (Olson, 1968) in social movements has been generally accepted as a motivator or demotivat o r of potential activists. Lower participation in collective action has been tied to large time and financial commitments. However, t he Internet has dramatically lowered participation costs and even allows for individuals to make smaller contributions that, when aggregated, account for a much larger whole. Aggregation works on a number of different levels in modern social movements, perhaps most significantly in that it serves as a way to demonstrate support for a cause, as backing by large numbers of people is widely considered to be at the heart of any social movement s influence and ultimate success. One way aggregation occurs is through online social networks, which allow for individuals to quickly and without cost click their support, and, in essence vouch for a cause, often implicitly and sometimes explicitly asking for others within their networks to do the same. Civic engagement refers to the process of " moving an individual away from disinterest, distraction, ignorance, and apathy and towards education, education, understanding, motivation and action " (Obar, Zu be, Lampe 2). Civic engagement encompasses a variety of forms of political and non-political activities. Common forms of civic engagement are making donations, attending political talks, participating in community work or political campaigns (Hay, 2007, Putnam, 2000 and Shah et al., 2001), while online civic engagement includes posting civic messages and signing online petitions ( Lovejoy , Saxton 201 2). Collective action refers to the " pursuit