The prevalence of social media has brought with it widespread patterns of superficial online activism.
People often post or repost things online to spread awareness, which can be incredibly valuable, but it sometimes lacks integrity when people claim to support a cause but only support it in ways that require the least effort, despite having the capacity to do more.
There needs to be a deeper understanding of what makes activism effective; the fight for change needs to be productive, not just surface-level.
Activism on social media typically has the goal of raising awareness, which is a very important part of making a difference. Social media has the ability to reach a lot of different people, and it can help call attention to under recognized issues and provide a voice and platform for underrepresented groups.
Even if someone is unable to materially contribute to a cause, they have a way to motivate others who can. People can post fundraisers to donate to causes they believe in. Reposting others’ posts about an issue can also help by amplifying the voices of those affected. However, it can become incredibly tempting to use “raising awareness” as an excuse to let one’s involvement in activism end online.
Social media lets people feel involved enough in an issue to absolve them of the guilt they would feel for outright ignoring it, while still allowing them to limit their involvement to whatever is most convenient for them.
This results in a bare-minimum standard of online activism that only scratches the surface of what is needed to make a substantial change.
When too many people settle for this level of engagement, it becomes harder to organize more impactful action. Social media’s culture of fleeting trends can also make serious real-world problems feel more like an “issue of the week” for people to claim a stance on, only to move on from it once it’s no longer gaining them any social prestige.
That said, it also isn’t helpful to completely write off anyone engaging in this seemingly performative activism — many people don’t necessarily know where to start when it comes to actually making an impact, and the idea can be daunting. What is really needed is more awareness of what people can do to meaningfully support the causes they care about.
Some examples of meaningful actions are attending protests, contacting local government officials, attending public government meetings, and participating in boycotts. These actions, though maybe seeingly small, do have an impact, especially when communities come together to rally around a cause.
Social media activism is most effective when communities come together. Social media provides a platform where people can easily organize larger actions like protests and boycotts. Movements like the Black Lives Matter movement began on social media and sparked massive protests.
Social media and other online websites have been used to organize boycotts of any companies that support ICE, with sites like boycottcitizens.org publicly cataloguing which companies should be boycotted and why. The internet has allowed these boycotts to reach a much wider audience, increasing their potential impact. Boycotts can have a direct financial impact on companies, potentially incentivizing them to reconsider their policies or partnerships.
It’s also important to remember that the most egregious instances of performative activism come from companies, not individuals. Many corporations will, for instance, release pride collections or change their logo to a rainbow during June in a show of superficial support for the LGBTQ+ community, all while donating their profits to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations. The main thing individuals can do about this is hold corporations accountable by, as mentioned earlier, boycotting.
Ultimately, no one person can do everything, and that can make change feel intimidating. Believing that change is impossible, however, will only further hinder progress.
Activism via social media is a great start, but political involvement can’t end there. People should make more efforts to participate in physical activism, while using social media to organize and raise awareness for these actions.
Awareness matters, but it should be a starting point for action, rather than a substitute for it. Activism is about creating change, not virtue signaling.