Topic > Clicktivism in social media - 720

As stated by Marshall McLuhan “The medium is the message” since it is the medium that builds the foundations and limits of the amount of human association and action. In our new technological era, the Internet and social media platform allows instant and widespread communication, increasing the amount of interpersonal exchange and therefore the possibility of response. The Internet has been a revolutionary medium that has allowed knowledge, information and awareness to spread at a previously inconceivable rate. However, with the innovations of social media, a new superficial aspect of our image has also been created. The conglomeration of these is what established the theme of our poster essay: click activism. The first poster introduces this concept, also known as clicktivism, of an Internet phenomenon in which users reduce their actions of activism to single mouse clicks on social media through 'Likes' and 'Shares'. The co-creator of the movement Occupy Wall Street's Micah White described clicktivism as “Political engagement becomes a matter of clicking on some links. Clicktivism is to activism as McDonalds is to promoting the illusion that surfing the web can change the world a slow-cooked meal. It may look like food, but the life-giving nutrients are long gone.” we demonstrated by fusing two iconic images. The “like” fist of the revolution, also known as a raised or clenched fist , a symbol of solidarity, defiance, resistance and strength. The fist is an iconic symbol, representing activism since the early 20th century and has previously been manipulated to represent a multitude of causes. If you consider the technological determinist theory the progression of… middle of paper… in fact, Ugandans, the apparent victims of the campaign, were unaware of this social media craze due to their isolation from the Internet. and online communities. As a more archaic society, most did not have access to the video until the nonprofit African Youth Initiative Network held a screening. The viewing culminated with stones being thrown at the screen, enraged and passionate Ugandans declaring: “If people in those countries care about us, they won't wear T-shirts with photos of Joseph Kony under any circumstances. This would celebrate our suffering. This is represented in the published image by the iconic and metonymic “loading” symbol next to Uganda on the world map. For internet users the sign denotes waiting for a page or video to load, however in this context the connotation is that the revolution never reached Uganda and they are still waiting.