Have social media tools reinvented social activism? Malcolm Gladwell doesn’t think so, and he makes a persuasive argument in the current New Yorker. Social media builds networks of weak ties, which efficiently draw in new ideas and information, are incredibly adaptable and resilient, and increase participation by lowering the level of motivation required to ‘participate.’ How hard is it to click “like” on Facebook and pat yourself on the back for supporting Darfur? But is it really so easy to change what’s happening in Darfur? The latter answer is clearly no, and that’s where social media fails as an activist tool, because low motivation and weak ties seldom lead to high-risk engagement, Gladwell argues.
Decentralized and with no central authority, networks formed through social media have no deep consensus, no strategy, and few (if any) concrete goals. That’s fine if you’re just drawing attention or raising awareness, Gladwell says. But real change—activism that challenges the status quo establishment and faces the dangerous backlash that can generate—requires deep commitment, strong ties, and hierarchy. “How do you make difficult choices about tactics or strategy or philosophical direction when everyone has an equal say?,” he asks. Coherent strategy, design, philosophy and tactics need systemic thinking and hierarchy.
“Social media favors the weak-tie connections that give us access to information over the strong-tie connections that help us persevere in the face of danger. It shifts our energies from organizations that promote strategic and disciplined activity and toward those which promote resilience and adaptability. It makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact. The instruments of social media are well suited to making the existing social order more efficient. They are not a natural enemy of the status quo.”
Gladwell’s conclusion is fine, as far as it goes, but I would place it in a slightly different context. Raising awareness is often the first step in enacting an agenda for social change. Rather than faulting social media for not being the ultimate tool in an activist’s kit, I’d say that a strong strategy for change would use social media as one tool—gathering the information, increasing visibility, identifying pockets of deeper commitment—and applying those in the longer, more comprehensive plan needed to push change forward. Know its strengths and use them well. There will still be sit-ins, demonstrations, advocacy campaigns, rallies, voter drives, and the full panoply of activism carried forward by those who are most committed to seeing change. And yes, it will be tweeted.
Published Date: September 27, 2010