http://jip.vmhost.psu.edu/ojs/index.php/jip/article/view/80/47
In the paper Advocacy 2.0: an analysis of how advocacy groups in United States perceived and use social media as tools for facilitating civic engagement and collective action, researchers have surveyed 169 individuals from 53 advocacy groups about their uses social media and their ideas of its effectiveness. Over 90% of respondents admitted to using Facebook and twitter to communicate with citizens. Most advocacy groups employed social media workers, with larger groups hiring dozens to communicate these social media daily. The most telling part of the research was when respondents were asked whether or not they thought social media facilitated civic engagement or collective action. Almost all responded said yes, while most believed social media would be very important to the future of advocacy.
The homogeneity of responses contradict the idea that hash tag activism is ineffectual at creating social change. While individuals in advocacy groups are likely biased, in that they want hash tag activism to be successful because it would help their causes, certain economic trends support their responses. Larger advocacy groups have rapidly increased their social media marketing budget over the last five years. These large advocacy groups have likely conducted cost-benefit analyses and found that great investment in social media coordination improved desired output (whether that be donations, volunteering, etc.). Why else would they invest millions of dollars into these campaigns. Organizations that can afford large scale social media campaigns know how to allocate resources. The recent rush to spend more on social media suggests that advocacy organizations truly believe in the effectiveness of social media. Hopefully, future research on the benefits of social media campaigns will bring to light what these organizations already seem to know: the social media revolution is real.
I would not argue with the fact that social media outlets enable advocacy groups to communicate with the public at large, but I think the greatest point of contention in this "social media revolution" is whether or not it actually incites political change. There is no denying that social media is a valuable tool in the dissemination of information, but do hashtags actually act as a catalyst for political change? I do not think we have the longevity studies to compare social media activism to traditional methods, but it will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
ReplyDeleteThat is a problem with studying the efficacy of of new technology. Because historical information on social media is so limited its difficult to measure its effect, let alone compare its effects to other methods of marketing. Still, I feel like the amount of investment put into social media coordinating would not happen if social media market was ineffective.
DeleteIt might instead be best to say, "money wouldn't be poured into social media coordinating if groups and corporations did not see the POTENTIAL for effectiveness". Effectiveness could be in the future and there have been similar instances that did not ultimately prove effective.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Noah's conclusion that media campaigns must be somewhat effective if so many companies are putting money into them. It's important to not minimize the impact of awareness. Once the general public is aware of an issue, be it fracking, a social rights campaign, or a new product on the market, they are more likely to invest financially or through their time and other resources.
ReplyDeleteWhile social media may not drive political change, I think that we can all agree that it does help to bring awareness to certain issues, however temporary that awareness is. That alone is enough to invest money and time into.
ReplyDeleteYour right about the value to bring awareness to an issue. A second part is to bring awareness from the angle or perspective the non profit wants. Spreading their opinion on an issue is probably more valuable than spreading awareness alone.
DeleteI agree with Noah when he says that is hard to judge social media because there isn't enough historical data to judge its effectiveness. In the future it will be very interesting to see how the data piles up for these campaigns on social media and see whether they were effective.
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