With technology and social media now an everyday concept, life moulds itself to fit into it. We have seen this through online shopping, online school, online games, and now: online activism. And whist online activism has been around for decades, it has garnered more attention than ever in the past several years.
This can be equated to a few things; the availability of social media, the platform and discussion spaces that social media provides, and availability of resources on these sites (Maryville University, 2019).
There are many recent examples I can use involving online activism, such as #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter (#BLM) and #FreePalestine. These movements use dedicated hashtags to keep all information, posts and support within one area to make it easier to access.
Some might refer to the posting of these movements online as “slacktivism” or “clicktivism”, meaning that it is a lazy way to go about showing support as it takes little to no effort to post on social media (Franklin, 2014).
While I can completely understand this point of view, I don’t fully agree with all of it. I, myself, have gone to many in-person protests, but I recognise that not everyone has the same opportunities as I do to do this. Some may not be physically able to, others may be or care for someone immunocompromised, or maybe some are not in a safe place to be leaving their homes. This means that social media may be the only place they are able to voice their support, and offer their knowledge or resources to others.
In a YouTube video by channel i-D called “Does Online Activism Have Any Power?”, there is many different perspectives from people who have grown up around social media. In the video, Shinden expresses a really important point surrounding online activism, saying “the things that [they] personally don’t like about it is this performative element of it”. This is unfortunately something very real when it comes to online activism, that some people may just post/comment/like on the subject of a very real and critical issue, but only to show to others that they ‘care’. Shinden gives the example of the black squares posted on Instagram in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter protests, as posting them was supposed to show to others you supported the movement. However, as nice as it is to show support, a black square on Instagram doesn’t mean anything if those same people aren’t actually educating themselves on the issue. It is easy to post a picture onto a social media site, but if doesn’t educate or help anyone, is it really activism?
Resources
- Maryville University, 2019, “A Guide to Activism in the Digital Age”, Maryville University, https://online.maryville.edu/blog/a-guide-to-social-media-activism/
- Franklin, M.I, 2014, “Slacktivism, clicktivism, and “real” social change”, OUPblog, https://blog.oup.com/2014/11/slacktivism-clicktivism-real-social-change/
- i-D, 2022, “Does Online Activism Have Any Power?”, i-D, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_n3WOuwt9M&ab_channel=i-D
MDA20009: Digital Communities 
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