Week 5 - Digital Citizenship: awareness vs. action
While the digital divide becomes narrower by the day, more and more of us are becoming a citizen of the digital world. All it takes to become a digital citizen and a part of an online public are through the simple click of a follow, retweet, share and like. Political figures are encouraged to create an influential online presence to build a more personal connection with the public and paint themselves as a relatable character. In doing this, they are reaching out to the hundreds of millions of people using Twitter and Facebook and sparking participation, discussion and brief bonding with like-minded readers who they have never met. I advocate the importance of creating awareness through social media by virtue of hashtags and the ability to share posts, but does awareness always lead to action - the most effective tool of them all?
In Greg Jericho’s book ‘The rise of the Fifth Estate: social media and blogging in Australian politics’, he talks about David Penberthy’s declaration that “real activism required real connections” (Jericho, G. 2012). ‘Kony 2012′ was a social media campaign that raised awareness of the atrocities carried out by Joseph Kony and his ‘Lords Resistance Army’ group. The campaign gained a lot of traction and talk among the public and influential figures such as Oprah Winfrey. The campaign went as far as merchandise being created to help spread the cause. While placing a sticker on the back of your car that says ‘Kony 2012′ and #stopkony builds awareness to some degree, what sort of action is that taking to actually stopping the villain.
Back in 2012 when this campaign was running, I was at my best friends house just relaxing outside, and the mailman dropped off a parcel for her. She showed excitement as if she’d been waiting eagerly for it to arrive. Inside, was a Kony 2012 merchandise package filled with stickers, a t-shirt, a pen and a keychain worth $20. Did that $20 go towards support the people fighting the LRA or towards manufacturing the merchandise? Who knows. My point is, while sharing videos, ‘disliking’ posts, and commenting or tagging people in posts spreads awareness, the connection is not real - it is simply through a screen.
Next time you’re scrolling through your feed and you read something you want to see changed, by all means spread awareness by tagging your mates or sharing or retweeting the post, but make that extra effort and write an email or letter, or attend a protest because that is what action is to me and that is what will make the difference.
Jericho, G. 2012 'How many votes are there on Twitter?' in The rise of the Fifth Estate: social media and blogging in Australian politics, Scribe Publications Pty Ltd, Australia, EBL eBook Library, viewed10 April 2016, pp 254 - 278
