Partaking in social media activism might sound pointless to some, but I disagree. Social media activism and slacktivism are not the same. Although the two involve some of the same actions, social media activism takes what could be slacktivism a step further. 

Slacktivism

Slacktivism is a term that recognizes the social media users who share one post relating to a social movement and then continue doing nothing else. It refers to those who think their one post was enough and now they feel good about themselves and can move on. Social media activism may start with one post online, but it doesn’t end there. 

The Pros of Social Media Activism 

There are many pros to using social media for a social movement. Social media impacts various pieces of a movement including communication, organization, and bringing awareness to the truth. It allows you to quickly spread the word about your cause. Information can be passed around in real-time much faster than what activists in the past could do. An example of this is when police brutality videos are uploaded online. People become outraged a lot faster and there is no sugarcoating what really happened. 

The information doesn’t just move faster on social media. You can also reach a lot of people from many different backgrounds at once. Social media allows a large movement that spreads across the country or the world possible. When a movement becomes big online it can eventually move offline. It also allows everyone to be involved rather than following the usual hierarchies. 

Despite some people thinking that using social media for activism isn’t good enough, I think it’s a start. I believe we should all consider using social media for the public good because it’s a crucial first step in any modern-day movement.