We may be Slackers, but there is a lot of us

I understand where Malcolm Gladwell is coming from, when he says that weak ties and real social change can never come from loose networks of people that do not know each other.  I believe on the surface that hitting like in Facebook on a social cause will never amount to real social change. 

On a deeper level though, it offers a medium in which affected people can get together and cultivate that network into something real.  Don’t get me wrong I think the majority of individuals will simply hit like thinking that they have done a good deed.  The minority though, the ones that have felt some form of oppression in relation to a cause can feel bonded in a struggle that up to now have probably faced alone (this is most evident in our busy lives in which we have lost touch with that community feeling as the cities and towns we populate grow larger).  These people can then plan events to get their point across much like the four college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, or to the extreme in the case of the Arab Spring in which Facebook and Twitter played a large part in the formation of the protest movement.  These events allowed others to reach out and form bonds in relation to a cause that they all were affected by.

The real change is still done by ties that were drawn close through social media.  It requires real action still to evoke results.  On lighter issues perhaps the Facebook like campaigns can exert some pressure for the powers that be to make change.  For example, a Facebook campaign on a proposed upcoming cut in government spending in a social program may make politicians nervous about the ability to be re-elected and thus alter the cut in the upcoming budget.  There can be a power to the people that has brought the community spirit back to the people.  Kiva is an excellent example of showing how a little goes a long way.  It may take a long time to find three or four investors willing to finance your program for change, but with organizations like Kiva,  it makes investing and financing a lot easier.  It allows me to invest my $25, which will not impact me at all, and with multiple lenders of such small amounts, greatly assist someone to build a better life and pay all investors back.  It provides a looser network indeed, but it gives a far wider network than ever before. 

So I can see how terms like Slactivism have arisen in regards to activism on social media, but it also provides individuals a wider community to come together for a cause.  It provides the framework to meet, plan agendas as well as events, and to forge new bonds in the wake of a cause that has affected them.  The use of social media to generate investment for causes like in the Kiva video also demonstrates that a little does go along way with some creative thinking.  The awareness, investment opportunity, and social change have brought the matter at hand to the world in a sense that just was not possible before.

Gladwell, M. (2010). Small change: Why the revolution will not be Tweeted. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all

(2013). Social Media and Development. Social Media and Society ~ GNED 1481. Retrieved from https://olmoodle.embanet.com/mod/resource/view.php?id=154831

Weber, J. (2012, January 26). Reuters Magazine:The Hashtag Revolution. Retrieved from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/26/us-davos-reutersmagazine-hashtag-idUSTRE80P19D20120126