Following on from yesterday’s post on the NFPTweetup event I attended last week, I wanted to talk about one of the most interesting discussions on the night – whether fundraising via social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter could be classed as ‘slacktivism’.
What is Slacktivism I hear you cry? As well as being a term suitable for any sort of buzzword bingo, the phrase has also been coined to describe “armchair activism” – you know, doing the bare minimum to show support for a cause or charity.
Illustration by Frank Chimero
If you were to come at slacktivism from a negative angle, you might use it to describe the “feel-good” measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction. Slacktivism, clicktivism, copy-and-pastetisvm – what ever you call it, it requires very little effort at all.
Still none the wiser? Let me offer you some examples that I’m sure you, as well as I have all taken part in.
Let’s start with the offline:
- Wearing awareness bracelets for a cause
- Watching a televised charity broadcast such as Comic Relief
And the online:
- Clicking like on a charity fan page
- Signing an online petition
- Adding a “twibbon” to your Twitter avatar
- Re-tweeting a charity cause or tweet on Twitter
- Using the #charitytuesday hashtag on Twitter to promote a cause
- Changing your Facebook status for an hour to help raise awareness of something
What fascinates me though, is that the list is getting steadily longer on the digital side – social media is making it far easier to be activist slackers. Who hasn’t liked a charity page on Facebook or added a Twibbon to their avatar? I have certainly done this many times, and used my Twitter account to promote and chat about the charities I am most inspired by. In fact most of my “follow Friday’s” tend to be charities or charity people.
The more important question is, I think, is there actually anything wrong with being a slacktivist? It wasn’t that long ago that we called just donating to charities slacktivism, as opposed to taking a more engaged and active role in your charity of choice, but now being a donor is considered to fundraisers and charity-ists alike as being one of the most important roles you can have in supporting a charity.
My view, and I think the consensus reached on the night, is that actually, slacktivism is just one part of the much wider picture on charitable support. For me, any sort positive action towards charitable causes is worthwhile and has it’s place, and is just one step down the road towards full engagement with your cause. Like’s on Facebook charity pages give your cause a much wider audience than if you hadn’t had that exposure, just as retweets on Twitter to. For me, it is up to the charities to work harder and smarter in converting the next slacktivist into a full blown protestor.
As one person at NFPTweetup put it – not everyone wants to stand in front of tanks! It would be great to find out the return on investment from likes on Facebook to how many of them end up going on to engage more widely with the charity – hard to measure, but I’d hazard a guess that the stats are starting to rise. In the crowded voluntary sector, with little cash floating about, exposure of your message is golden.
So, get on Facebook, like your cause and relax. But whilst you are relaxing tonight, why not start thinking about how you can progress from slacktivist to baby activist – all it takes is a couple more steps down the road, and you can still wear your charity bracelet……!
Good post Sam! I think this is a really hard one and there are pros and cons to “easy options” such as charity bracelets. I remember going to Live 8 a few years ago, wearing my white band with pride. The concert atmosphere itself was electric – thousands of people were moved by the videos in between songs of suffering in Africa, and ready to do something! But nobody told us what to do – and unfortunately for most of us, myself included at that time, I didn’t know where to start other than perhaps donating what little spare cash I had to Oxfam, with no idea what it would be used for. Raising awareness is an important thing, but it needs to be strategic – what is the plan of action after awareness has been raised?
When someone takes a small step to support a cause – be it wearing a band or donating a fiver – I think there needs to be some sort of support network where people are guided as to how they can continue championing that charity in a way that is manageable to them. I follow a number of charities on Twitter but none of them have sent me a message to say, “Thanks for following us. If you’d like to find out more about the different ways you can support us please go to this webpage”. I for one, would have clicked through!
You might be interested to know that I discussed your comment and the idea of auto DM’s on our Twitter account with our Digital Media Manager. It might be something we try out, but for everyone of you, there are loads of others that don’t like to be “hassled” in this way.
It’s a bloomin’ minefield!
Like it… Do you think slacktivism could be the first step towards, er, activism?
You start off with a few clicks and a like here and there. Then you start to read the news stories, hear about the events, spot one you like, sign up and take part.
Then you go to another one, read the newsletter, set up a direct debit, organise your own event…
Serena, this is exactly how I started “taking action” as it were. Back in the old days, before Facebook (I know, did that time even exist??), it was getting involved with campaigning which was the norm. I remember University being a hotbed of action, both charitable and political and all I really did at first was sign a few petitions….before I knew it, I was going on marches, organising events and donating money exactly as you have described.
I think, where a potential supporter is interested, we have to give them the path to follow – otherwise they might not know what to do next!
I agree, I started getting involved with charities through signing petitions, sending postcards off and getting e-newsletters and it then led – with their prompting – to making regular donations and organising events. There’s definitely a supporter+charity journey…
[...] social media users, I was interested to read a thought-provoking and increasingly commented upon blog from @SamRSparrow (aka Samantha Sparrow) about ‘slacktivism’. For those of you new to this term, and [...]
Love the blog and your suggestions on how charities can make more of ‘slacktivists’. I have to wonder, though, whether we always need to do more to move people towards this idea of engagement…
2011 supporters live in a different world to the one that inspired the ‘supporter journey’ and I think slacktivists might be an audience worth managing on their terms. Check out this follow-up blog to see what I mean: http://bit.ly/hbJSpt
Thanks for the inspiration!
Absolutely inspired by your challenging response! As I said on your blog, up with the Slacktivists!! I am like you, support a number of causes in different ways. I used to support two charities via payroll giving, because they are close to my heart, but only one of them I did a 5k for, because essentially I don’t have the energy to run more than one race a year!
As social media-fundraising-charity-tweeps it is up to us to set the agenda in terms of managing this audience. How does it differ from the traditional supporter? Where are the lines blurred? What is the motivation? All good points for discussion I think!
[...] so many more people into giving at a time when charities need it most. This could, as my post on Slacktivsm suggested, be the ideal way of getting new volunteers involved – and then it is up to us, the [...]