Page 4 - Tina Morlock - How to Avoid Slacktivism

Facebook, the Social Network.

Of the social networks available, Facebook has more powerful tools available for activists to use
than any of the others. Some of the tools available to you on Facebook are:

• Pages
• Groups
• Events
• Live Videos
• Low-Cost Advertising
• Donation Apps
• Online Stores
• Fundraisers
• Town Hall
• Marketplace
• Call-to-Action Buttons
• ...and, much more!

While I don’t have the space to give you details on how each of these elements can help you
leverage your social campaign, what I want you to take away is that the possibilities are endless
with the tools available to you on Facebook. There is a very low chance you can do too much
with Facebook to contribute to a cause, but doing too little is quite easy.

The “Save Darfur” movement was one of the largest causes that attempted to use Facebook to
increase awareness and involvement about the atrocities in Darfur. But, years later, many experts
determined their collective efforts on Facebook was a complete miss. In an academic article in
Sociological Science, researchers looked at the statistics of recruitment and donations received
only through their Facebook efforts. You can see the statistics they gathered in Figure 1 on the
next page.