The phenomena that has been the Kony video over the last week, garnering over 67 million views at the time of writing this, on Sunday morning in Australia, has rewritten the Social media and charity fund raising record books. If there remained any doubt about the power of social media in the minds of those who seek to form and leverage public opinion, this will remove that doubt forever.
In the process, the focus of political power, the meaning of the word “politics” in its original sense, that of collective decision making by the people, has moved back to the people. We the great unwashed have at our disposal a tool that can bring integrity back to the process of government and decision making.
I have no doubt that the Kony video will bring forth claims of misused funds, personal agendas and ego courtesy of a wikileaks type process. However, the point remains, the world is now aware of a gross abuse that it has been able to ignore for 20 years, and should in conscience, ignore no longer.
That awareness was built in a week via social media, and the world just moved again!
Quite right, vitally important humanitarian and environmental issues are happening around the world, but they do not have the resources and leadership that so benefits Invisible Children. If you look at the charity’s key players, they’re mostly derived from film/media. I am waiting to see how this experiments pans out and what can be learned from it. Is there a “Secret Ingredient X?” If you can define that, Allen, please don’t give it to the Corporates!! (BTW have you seen “Century of Self” a BBC documentary, available on YouTube? If not, you should watch it .. completely relevant to our conversation/situation now. Cheers! Lyn.
Hi Lyn,
A passionate response, great to see. All the causes you note, and many others, can now be brought out of the dark corners via social media.
I tend to think about these things as a commentator on the power of SM, rather than from the perspective of an outcome for a cause, but the outcome emerges from the power of the media.
I think what makes the difference between this Kony video, and many other attempts is the vastly increased professionalism of the content from what we expect from a u-tub dump. Had it been a 3 minute dodgy video with no production values, but sending the same message, it may not have gathered the attention. The power of the media is only properly leveraged by content that grabs more than just our attention for a moment, it must grab our wemotions, which takes a bit more. .
You’re the only one I’ve seen so far who seems to have “got it”. I had a long FB conversation with another person regarding Kony. He was pooh-poohing the organisation, and I’ve read plenty of links both for and against. This is how I felt, as a connected individual, immediately after watching KONY2012:
“I really want to see this happen. I want to see a #KONY seismic shock shake the planet. Why? Because somehow, the individuals who make up our network have to find their voice. It has to happen at a level powerful enough to shake the global consciousness. Can this happen? I want to find out. If this Invisible Children experiment works … then we can, maybe, rescue our future and our fellow earthlings, from the catastrophe that is unfolding. I will hold up a banner for Ugandan child soldiers and slaves, for murdered Syrian families, for drug addicts and pregnant teenagers, for the dolphins caught in drift nets, the whales murdered by Norway & Japan, the fucking krill who are losing the war against dissolved plastics in our oceans …against corporate control of our political systems, against Monsanto, against mass produced proteins and animal cruelty… if it is a banner that we can ALL unite under and change the course of this disaster. I want to see this work, for that reason. Can it? I don’t know .. yet. Has it been compromised? Yes, probably. Innocents are suffering right now … have you got an iPod? I do. We’re to blame for what’s happening in the Congo. The lists of injustices and craziness is so long and so comprehensive it’s total insanity. We, the people of this world, have to make a stand but where does it start? And WHO starts it? If this is the revolution, then sign me up. I’ve bought the t-shirt. I’m posting the posters (even though I’m in Canada, I’m Australian, married to a Brit with a multi-national child). I have no idea what the bloody elephant and donkey symbol on the poster means, but … nothing will change, if we don’t and we’re down to our last gasp. Grab it, while you can. Breathe. Unite. Let’s see what happens..”
That was how this social media experiment made me feel, and reading feedback from around the world, it seems I was not the only one. Now, we’ll wait until April to see whether or not arguments and detractors will serve to dilute the response. Cheers, Lyn.