These Websites Might Change Your Mind About Clicktivism
how a negative can be turned into a positive.
Clicktivism: the lazy person’s way to claim that they are being active in their efforts to make the world a better place. Though this term is often accredited as negative, there is actually an increasing value to it.
Take #BlackLivesMatter for instance. A movement that has taken America by storm, it was largely based off of online efforts before activists started taking the streets in protest. Within this hashtag, a lot of people have tweeted videos of injustice, which in some situations has led to further action. Though there are countless hours of material to be covered about this movement, it all started with a click, which is powerful considering how prevalent this movement still is today.
Moving on to the environment, there are plenty of websites that tailor their needs to a proactive audience. The most recent example of this is #ClimateMarch, which has a coinciding website that encourages people to be active in their efforts by finding sister marches near them to participate in.
It doesn’t stop there, however. Other environmentally-charged sites like PETA, The Sierra Club, and the The Nature Conservancy (just to name a few) are very forward in their efforts to encourage users to promote change further than just their computer screens.
Overall, primarily using clicktivism is not the best way to be an activist. It is, however, a great stepping stone for those who are unsure where to start. A number of websites are available at our fingertips so long as we make the effort to find them. If we want to make a change, and are unsure where to start, starting with social media isn’t necessarily a horrible option. However, the choices we make past the initial step are the choices that especially matter.
Yes, there are still people who are very limited in their use of clicktivism, which is why the term is viewed so negatively. But it isn’t negative overall, and can be an extremely valuable tool to have in the age of social media.
