Social media has an undoubtable
impact on everyday life of its users. However, when it comes to any political
or environmental companions its impact isn’t as clear. There are thousands of
petitions to sign or posts to like. Is the purpose of those things the actual change?
Or do they only inform people about current events and don’t lead to any real
actions?
In my opinion it all depends on a
certain campaign. I believe that in most cases an act of participation such as
signing petitions online, donating money or just spreading the word about
something does change people’s lives. Let’s take a look at the change.org, the
website where people can create and sign online petitions. I’ve been using it
for over a year and I actually can see how it affects the society. The
petitions I’ve signed so far were all in Russian about different political and
cultural issues in the country. The most recent petition I’ve signed was about
a demolishment of Kazimir Malevich’s house. The artist who’s the most famous
work is the “Black Square” used to live and create in a small house in Kursk,
Russia.
A week ago the well-known Russian
newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda has published an article about the decision to
destroy the house of world famous avant-gardist that the government of Kursk
has made. The reason why the house was about to be demolished was the high
price of the land on its location. The citizens of Kursk have been protesting
against the government’s actions for about a month without any result. After
unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue by their own means the citizens of
Kursk decided to create a petition on the change.org to save the historical
building. By 20.03.2015 there are 26,479 signatures collected of 35,000
signatures needed. I’ve signed the petition as well and have been monitoring
all the changes. On 19 of March 2015 the good news came up. Even though there
weren’t enough signatures yet, the city’s administration has changed its mind under
the pressure of the public. The starter of the petition, Elena Ovsyannikova thanked
everyone for their input and emphasized the huge effect of the media on the government’s
decision.
I consider this a perfect example
of the situation where the social media campaign has brought up some real
changes. Malcolm Gladwell in his article “Small Change” states that this kind
of activism doesn’t require a real sacrifice from its followers. The question
is “does it really matter if it has worked out?” In my opinion it does not.
Moreover, I am glad that the problem has been solved without anyone being
arrested or pursuit. Back in time when
there was no such thing as social media this case would probably have way less
happy ending. I don’t see any problem with the “slacktivism”. If a situation
requires more than just social networking actions let people who motivated
enough to do something about it to take actions. However, it doesn’t mean that
the support that social media offers would do any harm. In fact, as it was
mentioned by Malcolm Gladwell social media is a great tool to create awareness.
If something, the more people are aware about a case, the lower are chances
that government or any other interested organization would take illegal actions
to prevent those activist from doing whatever they are doing. Therefore I
consider social media campaigns a useful and powerful tool, not just a way for
unmotivated people to feel “involved”.
References
M. Gladwell,"Small change". (2010, October 4th).
Retrieved on 19th of March, 2015 form http://www.newyorker.com/
“Stop the demolishment of the house of Kazimir Malevich”.
(2015, March 13th). Retrieved on 19th of March, 2015 from
www.change.org
“The Malevich’s house is about to be demolished in Kursk”.
(2015, March 12th). Retrieved on 19th of March, 2015 from
www.kp.ru
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