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Is sharing really caring?

Lezette Engelbrecht
By Lezette Engelbrecht, ITWeb online features editor
Johannesburg, 14 Mar 2012

Two events this past week demonstrate social media's greatest promise and its biggest failure. One is a film about an African warlord; the other is a day highlighting the realities of millions of women. Both speak volumes about the potential for change and our tendency to sidestep it.

What is the point of having a collective head full of needs when there are no willing hands to meet them?

Lezette Engelbrecht, online features editor

The now infamous Kony 2012 video, which depicts the atrocities committed by Ugandan leader Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, has received more than 100 million views in the week since it was uploaded, eliciting claims it's the most viral video in history. First, there was shock and outrage, with a spate of high-profile celebrities tweeting the message to legions of followers. But a few days later, most people have moved completely beyond the subject of the video, and are now debating the spending practices of the NGO that made the film.

The video no doubt exploited the reach of social media, and features some notable calls to action. But how many of the millions who saw the film will go on to help make a tangible difference to the army's victims, and to those currently thought to be suffering its abuses in neighbouring countries? What is the point of having a collective head full of needs when there are no willing hands to meet them?

In this digital age, the excuse of ignorance can no longer be argued, but a new - and more chilling - one replaces it; that of inaction. A common response by white South Africans when confronted with their apathy during Apartheid is “We didn't know”. This may have been a self-imposed and convenient unawareness, but the censorship laws at the time give it a degree of credence. A few decades later, this claim would be preposterous. But how much of a difference does knowing about it make? The argument goes that the sheer amount of people social networks reach means even if only a small percentage actually respond, it translates into a substantial impact. It depends, of course, on the nature of this response. Is it “liking” a video? Sharing a link? Tweeting about it?

An ongoing criticism of online activism is that people are happy to engage in good deeds from behind a screen - as long as that's where they stay. Making an issue part of the broader social consciousness and bumping it up governments' agendas is laudable, but in many cases it allows for a convenient abdication of actual involvement by means of clicking an icon.

Of course, not everyone can jet off to the middle of a warzone or drought or disaster-hit region. It's worth considering though whether being so caught up in virtual volunteerism could blind one to real-life opportunities to help. If you've “done your bit” online, it's easier to ignore actual pleas from a hungry person or sick animal, which don't have the resources to dress up their needs in catchy graphics with a feel-good message. They won't give you a badge or up your status with friends and colleagues; they won't make you part of a “movement”. But they will appreciate you reaching out to help, right there in that moment, in that place.

The Kony video highlights another emerging aspect of social activism: people have grown a little jaded about it. Sure, it can be life-changing and regime-toppling, but it can also rattle the sympathy nerve, which I suspect is part of the reason the film has received so much backlash. Concerns over factual accuracies aside, taking apart the documentary is also a way of relieving ourselves from the compulsion to act. Cast a bit of doubt on the details, and the whole cause loses credibility and we can move on.

This raises the question of whether inundating the social Web with constant “cause” campaigns could create a form of moral exhaustion far worse than Aids or climate change fatigue - where others' suffering has become such a social media spectacle that even the most perverse of situations fails to stir an emotion. If we are bombarded non-stop with every matter of social ill packaged in shareable multimedia formats, will it not dull the senses more than ever?

What seems to serve as a catalyst for taking the ideas beyond the screen and onto the streets is context - this is why the Arab Spring uprisings and Occupy movements successfully transitioned from their Facebook roots to real-life. These social media messages directly affected the lives of those involved and spoke to a reality they witnessed everyday. The message was not only social, it was personal, and that's where one needs to look to foster tangible, ongoing engagement. Which brings us to the second event, and why enabling action rather than just spreading the word is key to tapping social media's significant potential.

Amplify and act

For many who stand to benefit from new social technologies, the provision of information isn't matched by the tools to act on it, as is the case for the millions of women discussed during International Women's Day last week.

First off, a disclaimer: there is still a vast amount that needs to be done in terms of providing women with information and the devices required to access it. That said, many have now got a ticket to the information highway...and little else.

Once you know you're at risk for HIV, or likely to be pregnant, or that there's an easier way to collect water, what can you do about it? There need to be more initiatives connecting virtual interaction with concrete change. This is a reality recognised but the UN General Assembly, which has increased efforts to provide rural women with better ICT programmes.

In many countries around the world, women are the primary breadwinners, care takers, food producers and home makers. In Africa, they grow 80% of the food, yet own 1% of the agricultural land. There is immense potential for the effective use of digital tools, to enable them to create opportunities, innovate, get educated, and develop products and services to support themselves.

As part of an initiative by the Women of Uganda Network, for example, participants are combining a listening club for rural radio with mobile platforms to increase contact with the outside world and improve their agricultural production. Regular SMSes remind them about pests and disease control measures and they can post harvest strategies and tips for preventing losses. They reduce transport costs by linking up with friends via their phones, which are also used to look for markets for their produce. Others farmers said they were cultivating new varieties of crops following interaction with agricultural institutions and NGOs. In this way, the information and social component gets carried across into practical, everyday actions.

In another example, women in the Sikasso region, in Mali, have been combining video and photo content to create lively digital marketing material for their products. In Benin's rural fishing villages, women are using video and mobile phones to learn conservation techniques and sell produce to Togo and Nigeria.

In a similar vein, mobile platforms for HIV-positive pregnant women have shown great success, because they not only provide information, but allow women to act on it. They receive reminders when it's time to go for pre-natal appointments - and where the nearest clinic is. They are alerted to take medication, and when to give it to an infant.

All these instances demonstrate the power the social Web can bring in terms of knowing, but even more so in terms of doing, to change one's own and others' lives for the better. The opening line of Kony 2012 states that “nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come”, but I'd argue there is - turning that idea into a reality.

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