Slacktivism Analysis

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Throughout the years, social media has had a powerful impact on how the world communicates today. It is a big part of our life these days. The new tools of social media have reinvented social activism. They make it easier for the powerless to give voice to their concerns. The impact of online movements has been substantial since the introduction of the internet. With the ever-growing medium of social media, internet activism has reached the forefront of the internet. The opportunity for wide-scale, online social participation has increased. Although when current issues are all over social media, they usually only attract Facebook likes or Twitter favorites. This can also be referred as, Slacktivism. Slacktivism is actions performed through …show more content…
The Ice Bucket Challenges was one of the biggest social media phenomenons of 2014. It is an activity that involves dumping a bucket of ice water on someone's head to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis also known as, ALS. The challenge raised $115 million dollars in less than two months. During the same period the year before, they raised just $5 million. A lot of the participants are probably spending more money on bagged ice than on ALS research," wrote blogger Will Oremus. But, even if someone doesn't donate money, slacktivism, raises awareness around a cause. More than 17 million people uploaded their Ice Bucket challenge videos to Facebook, Twitter, etc. These videos were watched by 440 million people a total of 10 billion times (ALS). It is now an annual event to raise awareness and funds to find treatments and a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Ice Bucket Challenge donations have had a positive impact on families coping with this disease. The donations have increased services to constituents residing in rural areas, eliminated wait lists for services, and funded respite care for caregivers. So although a bunch of people did not donate anything at all, they did spread the word by posting a video of themselves being challenged in which made a huge impact alone on the movement because it was being talked about all over the

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