Activism. Blog, tweet or actually do something?

on Sep 30 in Bristol, Culture tagged by Peter Blackman

Malcolm Gladwell writes in The New Yorker that social networks such as Twitter and Facebook  are “enormously resilient and adaptable in low-risk situations,” but are almost useless as a catalyst for genuine change. Here’s an excerpt (thanks to ‘The Week’ for, as ever, the best precis):

“Twitter is a way of following (or being followed by) people you may never have met. Facebook is a tool for efficiently managing your acquaintances, for keeping up with the people you would not otherwise be able to stay in touch with. That’s why you can have a thousand “friends” on Facebook, as you never could in real life…

But how [does one enlist such large numbers of people]? By not asking too much of them.

A Facebook friend isn’t the same as a real friend and that signing up for a donor registry in Silicon Valley today isn’t activism in the same sense as sitting at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro in 1960…

Social networks are effective at increasing participation — by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires. The Facebook page of the Save Darfur Coalition has 1,282,339 members, who have donated an average of nine cents apiece… In other words, Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice. We are a long way from the lunch counters of Greensboro.”

The article reminded me of a question I once put to Charles Leadbeater at a Festival of Ideas event in 2008.

You can probably hear my sarcastic, disingenuous tone of voice if you can bear to watch the video all the way through. I asked Mr Leadbeater which he thought was more effective, or which we ought to do if made to choose - online protest or physical, street protest. I can remember him smiling - recognising the tease inherent in the question. I knew, he knew, everyone in the room knew, that he couldn’t denounce active, personal protest, no matter how great his evangelism for the power of online collaboration and activism. So he said the ideal would be ‘both’. Which got a laugh, and then we all went home or to the bar.

I was reminded of that evening by the Gladwell article because in the interim I have had cause to be involved in a couple of instances of very minor social / community protest. One concerned the proposed building of a huge block of flats near to my house, and the other the appalling anti-social behaviour of the Union of Bristol Students Union during Freshers Week in 2009. In both instances, using my albeit limited marketing and social media skills, I organised blogging, online campaigning, facebook groups and twitter feeds around each issue. But nothing works like marching down to the Council House and telling the Planning Committee what you think. Nothing works like sitting in a room with student officers and making a mockery of their absurd licencing applications, wherein they claim to provide ‘pastoral care’ and a ’safe haven’ for vulnerable students, but at the same time organise ‘free shots!’ and ‘pound a pint all night!’ promotions. In short -  nothing works like getting out there. Gathering people around with whom you have Gladwell’s ’strong ties’ and making a bit of a scene about things.

So if you care about something. Do something. By all means do it online. But be prepared for it to not be enough. You might actually have to get some real, flesh and blood friends and colleagues around you. Who care as much as you do. And get out there with you to campaign for change, or whatever it is you might want. All my protests seem to be about things staying the same - which is another story.