Do you believe in social justice? Are you trying to make social change – as a donor, volunteer, staff person?
Are you a fundraiser or other staff person focused on social media – and hoping it’s the answer? You know, forwarding stories and signing petitions, and…
Read this great article NOW! “Why social media won’t transform our politics” by Stephen Hopgood, September 2014.
What is social media good for? Information sharing and coordination. But, Hopgood notes, “there are important caveats” to social media. For example, demonstrating impact is hard.
And so, Hopgood asks: “Do information sharing and coordination actually create real leverage in the form of irresistible pressure for change?”
“[H]ow effective can [these activists be] if all they do is sign an online petition while sitting at their desks?” (Check out Malcolm Gladwell’s article “Small Change: Why the Revolution Won’t be Tweeted,” October 24, 2010.)
Hopgood ends his article with this statement: “However fast social media move, the reality of people living in real places, controlling real material resources, and meeting face-to-face in rooms and coordinators and across the barricades, will always be where the real action is. Clicking the mouse button is only the beginning.”
Hopgood’s article appears in the online e-news called “Transformation: Where love meets social justice.” Do visit www.opendemocracy.net. A great place for all of us to spend some time.
