Reflection

Working as an EmerAgency Consultant opened my eyes to the many different aspects that go along with online activism. Although I have always felt that I have been an active advocate online for different issues, working in the group on this project has given me greater insight on what online activism really means. Until this project, I had never really considered the idea of “clicktivism.” Gladwell argues that “activism that challenges the status quo—that attacks deeply rooted problems—is not for the faint of heart (Gladwell, 2010).” Essentially, Gladwell is arguing that real activism cannot happen through social media. He argues that social media does not have enough structure to truly create change, and the users are unwilling to sacrifice anything real in order to create change. Prior to this reading, I had never considered these things. When Gladwell describes the low investment user, he is describing users like me. I have been subject to joining causes and campaigns under the illusion that I’m making a difference, but in actuality the most I’ve contributed is a couple of dollars. This is something our group considered when making and maintaining our blogs. We wanted to avoid “clicktivism,” but felt that this was a challenge. How could we really do something to help suicide prevention? Our issue felt too large to actually be able to make a change. Because of this, our goals changed. We shifted our goals to changing attitudes rather than ending suicide. At first, this was difficult. We struggled to find ways to change the attitudes of our readership rather than inform them about suicide. However, after examining our case study, we had a model to base our posts off of. Our posts became uplifting and positive. However, we continued to balance between positive posts and informative. Overall, this seemed effective. We found a balance between informative and uplifting, and the goals of our blog became more cohesive.

Working as a group was very beneficial to our cause. It was helpful to have different perspectives on the issue, and everybody was able to offer a different opinion and approach. Working collectively taught me the importance of different perspectives. Had I been working alone, I don’t think the blogs goals would have changed. I feel that I would have continued to post about informative and serious information. Through the other group members insights and explanations, I was able to see the importance of changing our mission, and the impact of changing attitudes.