Social Media Promotes Too Much Passivity, We Need Action In Our Communities
You are scrolling through your Facebook feed when you come upon a post from a local nonprofit organization asking the community to donate gently used shoes and clothing to help families in need. You are at a crossroads with two possible options:
You could click on the link which would lead you to find the nearest donation center and a sign-up sheet to volunteer with other members of the community in sorting and packaging donations.
Or you could simply like the post and share it on your own timeline feeling good that you are spreading the word.
Be honest with yourself, which choice would you have made?
It is all too easy in the realm of social media to become passive members of our local communities. Although I applaud such platforms like Facebook for raising visibility and awareness for goodwill nonprofits, I also warn against the disheartening trend of inactive community participants who will “like” or “share” an important community event instead of showing up and actively supporting it.
Passivity within our communities comes as a result of societies’ seemingly unwavering reliance on social media to receive and process information, activities and events. Sure, a Facebook event about a community food drive will definitely help spread the word and peak interest but how many people will actually actively take part? This lack of action is especially apparent in efforts made by many nonprofit organizations to engage and mobilize their communities.
One nonprofit shared, “We invited people to participate on social media. They loved the pictures and the quotes that people were sending in about the river. But we didn’t get a single person to print out the form and put a check with it and send it to us from any of the platforms we used electronically.”
It goes to show, as the nonprofit said, “Liking a Facebook page is not an engagement.”
Social media platforms delude us into thinking that “liking” a page is more than just pressing a button. In the false reality presented by social platforms, it is easier to talk the talk or “like the post” than actually walk the walk. A Harvard study titled “What’s the Value of a Like?” revealed that people usually experience a “cognitive dissonance” when their actions and beliefs don’t coincide. However, social media is eliminating the dissonance people feel. There is a chasm forming between our digital selves and real-world behavior.
Facebook claims that their platform is “bringing us close together” through their tailored use of Groups, Pages, Events and Communities. However, we must not forget that closer together in their sense means closer digitally, not necessarily physically. There is an undeniable difference between digital communication and active collaboration.
Our world is entering the realm of passive consumption, where “a user reads the posts of another user without interacting with them in any way.” When it comes to galvanizing communities, nonprofits and other groups cannot also become passive in how they use social media to collaborate.
While social media is definitely resourceful in distributing information, engaging communities requires more active innovation on the organization’s end to challenge passive consumption. Keep Britain Tidy did just this when they sought to change people’s habits through social media by encouraging followers on Facebook and Twitter to take and post pictures of litter in their communities. It was a simple way for locals to start taking action.
While it doesn’t look like social media is going anywhere anytime soon, I encourage everyone to break the cycle of passive consumption. Stop scrolling, go back to that post about donating used shoes and clothes, take a moment to engage by signing up to volunteer.
Be active in interacting with your community and encourage others to do the same.
