Activism or Entertainment? Lessons from Two Social Media Campaigns

In 2014, someone dumped an ice bucket over my head.  Looking back on it now, it seems kind of weird.  But it all made perfect sense at the time.

After all, millions of other people were doing it as well – as part of the Ice Bucket Challenge, an enormously popular and successful fund-raising and awareness-raising campaign for ALS research that ultimately raised over $115 Million worldwide. 

Taking part in the Ice Bucket Challenge wasn’t a simple process. It had several steps to complete and took some effort (make a small donation, do the challenge or make a larger donation, post the video to YouTube, link to their website, and then challenge three more friends). And getting a bucket of ice water on the head.

So, what made this cyberactivism campaign so successful?

• It was fun.  It was fun to watch people get doused, and it was gave participants a chance to create and post a funny video for their network.
• It was inclusive.  Famous people, ordinary people, school kids and parents could all participate equally.
• It had clearly defined steps that made people part of the conversation.  Participants not only created their own content around the idea but encouraged others in their network to do the same.
• The steps were linked to a real-life action.  Donating time and money gave value to the activity, making it meaningful and changing it from entertainment into a charitable work they could feel good about. 

When compared to other social media activism campaigns like the infamous breast cancer meme, it is easy to see why that campaign failed to make a long-lasting impact. 

The breast cancer meme asked woman to tweak their status on Facebook in a playful way to show their support of breast cancer awareness. The intent was to spark conversation and awareness of the issue.

But changing the Facebook status was so easy to do, it had little meaning to the user after the change was made.  The action did not require a follow activity for further engagement. Because it was so easy, it had little value to the donor.

Another issue with the breast cancer meme was that the activity was meant to exclude a large segment of the population. Only women were supposed to do the activity – all men could do was ask about the changes. The increasingly sexualized tone further limited the audience, as women uncomfortable with that direction opted not to participate.

However, the biggest issue with the breast cancer meme campaign was that it lacked a concrete action to connect it to the cause, such as a link to a site for a donation or to gain additional information about breast cancer. Without this link, participating in the campaign was really just a fun activity.

What can these two campaigns teach us about cyberactivism and social media?  Social media can be an extremely effective tool for cyberactivity.  It offers the opportunity to directly engage with an interested audience and turn them into further advocates for the issue.  Social media also has the potential to access a much wider donor base for successful fund raising.   However, to do all these things, the campaign must have a clear and accessible message, require a meaningful and engaging activity, and most of all, link back to an additional resource. 

As the Ice Bucket Challenge showed, it is possible for activism to be entertaining, as long as that is not all that it is.