We’ve all done it. 

 

Maybe it was clicking-that-tick for a new community fundraising initiative that popped up on your Facebook feed this morning, or perhaps you were one of the 57,881 supporters who recently signed a petition to send Donald Trump to space and leave him there. 

You may or may not be aware that for quite some time now these online dopamine hits have fallen under the title, ‘Clicktivism’ also known as ‘Slacktivism’.  

 

So What Do These Ism’s Actually Mean?

 

‘Clicktivism’ as described by the Oxford Dictionary is “the use of social media and online methods to promote a cause." The term has ran into controversy through its apparent inability to mobilise the fundamental component of activism, the actual act of acting. 

Lets go back to this morning’s hypothetical for a moment. 

What if in the next 5 minutes, you were to receive an urgent notification inviting you to participate in the organisation of a fundraising event for the community initiative after work tonight? 

Would you go? 

If you answered no its these kind of situations that have got digital activists such as Micah White believing that clicktivists, “are the Wal-Mart of activism: leveraging economies of scale, they colonise emergent political identities and silence underfunded radical voices.” 

However the question lingers as to whether, despite lack of action, it is still instrumentally beneficial to have brand awareness of your cause whether or not action follows click through? 

 

Digital Marketing & Clicktivism: How They Speak To One Another   

 

Kate Brodock, marketing strategist and social media marketer at The Other Side Group believes clicktivism and digital marketing speak to each other; and the key to their successful relationship is embedded in strategy.

Kate has had numerous clients in the private and non-profits spaces and believes that base success doesn’t just come through click-through-rates, RSS subscriptions and Twitter followers. Kate sits down with her clients on day one to explain that 100% of the time success is not actually the number of followers they’ve gathered on social networks or mailing lists. In order to make more profit, have more supporters, more influence and greater brand awareness she believes you have to turn the numbers into something valuable.  

For example, it’s no good having 10,000 Twitter followers if your intended goal is to create actionable, organised, social change. The same thing applies when considering successful goals for your brand.    

Kate maintains, “that if we’re going to rip apart this idea of Clicktivism, and basing everything on numbers etc., I’d like for Mr White to run his analysis of how these organisations turned those numbers into value for themselves. I would bet you that MoveOn has achieved what it would consider tremendous success from their “measly click-throughs.”

By moving past the numbers and linking them to something more engaging than just a click, as digital activists and digital marketers alike we can turn these clicks into both passionate supporters and dedicated customers.

 

Bad Digital Activist Campaigns Vs. Bad Digital Marketing Campaigns

 

Esra’a Bahrain, a digital activist based in The Middle East discusses the difficulty of digital campaigning, “People really do underestimate the amount of work that has to be done for a digital campaign to really be effective, its incredibly difficult to cut through the noise specifically if your attempt is to generate international support on a channel as busy as the Internet. This is no easy challenge to overcome, but many digital activists do overcome those challenges through creative ideas and tough, long hours to pull it off.” 

A bad digital activist campaign is not too dissimilar to a bad digital marketing campaign. Anyone who knows the digital marketing world will tell you that numbers is only the first step, and that those numbers must be linked to a strategy and goals if the campaign is going to be a success. 

 

So Clicktivism Isn’t A Bad Thing? 

 

Micah White believes one of Clicktivism’s fundamental flaws is its connection to marketing ideologies.

 “The trouble is that the [MoveOn] model of activism uncritically embraces the ideology of marketing. It accepts that the tactics of advertising and market research used to sell toilet paper can also build social movements. This manifests itself in an inordinate faith in the power of metrics to quantify success. Thus, everything digital activists do is meticulously monitored and analysed. The obsession with tracking clicks turns digital activism into clicktivism.”

‘Passive clicktivism’ tactics such as online petitions and Facebook status campaigns are commonly amongst the digital activist tactics most regularly referenced in clicktivism. However its integral to remember the more proactive (although not all necessarily positive or completely successful) digital activism campaigns and organisations, such as Anonymous, The Arab Spring and 38 degrees.

The reality is that clicktivism is utilising marketing ideologies which is in fact facilitating social change. While it may not be delivered with the same gusto witnessed in ‘real life’ activism such as marches and protests it shouldn’t be overlooked as irrelevant.  In many ways it is servicing traditional activism by generating interest of those that may have not otherwise noticed the cause. By plastering all over our feeds we are demanded to take notice. 

 

What’s your view on clicktivism? Are you still coming to the community fundraising event after work tonight?