tl;dr: online activism can be very effective, but existing tools aren’t enough, which is why we created CliqStart.
So we’ve started messing around on the eCampaigning Forum, organized by the lovely folk at FairSay. There was a bit of a debate on clicktivism, and it helped us catalyse our thoughts on the matter. So here goes:
Clicktivism is a loaded term (though less than slacktivism which we avoid), but it’s helpful short-hand to explain what we're trying to do with CliqStart: to improve on the tools that already exist online. That’s why we say we "go beyond" clicktivism, by allowing people to take concrete action for the causes they care about.
Our starting point is this: activism comes first, the tools come second (thank you Rasmus!). That being said, like many organizers of social and political movements, we're inspired by the new possibilities of mass mobilization that Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, etc. have enabled, and we try to harness them in the CliqStart app to push their impact even further.
In that sense, our approach is very down-to-earth, rather than ideological, and we focus solely on the effectiveness of online tools. For us, hashtag activism definitely isn't a cop-out (as DeRay Mckesson elegantly argues here), but there are limitations with current tools that - without either massive resources or extraordinary motivation - make it difficult to:
keep people engaged and informed after a viral campaign (let alone launch one in the first place)
allow people to do more than tweet a hashtag or sign a petition
In short, our mission at CliqStart is to further bridge the gap between online and offline action, and help social and politicial activists sustain the intensity of their initiatives over the long term.
P.s. we recommend checking out the great debates on clicktivism organised by Fairsay a few years ago.
Image source: Vice magazine