The Kony 2012 video was a powerful story that had a lot of potential to create a movement but ultimately fell flat. This week I viewed the 30-minute video on YouTube for the first time since it was originally published. I didn’t remember the details of the video considering it has been 13 years. Watching the video made me feel emotional because it’s upsetting to hear about such a distressing situation, especially one that involves children. I think in this way, it’s a good example of exposing the truth about a situation and getting people interested in wanting to help.

How a Viral Campaign Fell Flat 

When Kony 2012 was first uploaded, it was widely discussed. At first, it seemed like a big movement would come out of it. I think where the Kony 2012 video went wrong, is that it took a long time to get to the point. When watching the video, I found that it’s somewhat unclear what direction it’s taking until you’ve seen the whole thing and understand what the point actually was. More importantly, the video doesn’t discuss ways to get involved until the end. The purpose of the video is to spread awareness of what Joseph Kony was doing and how terrible it was so that people would want to help. I think more people would’ve gotten involved if that was clear from the start of the video. If this video was released today in 2025, it would be even more necessary to get to the point quickly than in 2012. This is because, with the rise of short-form content, many of us are losing our attention spans. 

I think we can learn from this when wanting to use social media to promote good and a brighter future. In order for a message to be effective, you want to make it clear what you’re talking about and what you want people to do. If that is established early on, then it can be followed by the more emotional clips that the Kony 2012 video used to really drive the message home.