Charlie MayfieldUWSMC May 10, 2012

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The rapid distribution of social media which expands exponentially, mimicking the spread of a computer virus or viral disease epidemic…..

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LRA – “Lord’s Resistance Army” – formed 1986

Murder, sexual slavery, child abuse, child-soldiers

Since 1986, reportedly killed 70,000 civilians & kidnapped 75,000 children in 4 countries 2M refugees flee violence

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Lord’s Resistance Army has NO stated aims or goals, other than to perpetuate itself and its power through inhumane terrorism

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Kony & the LRA left Uganda in 2006

Currently thought to be somewhere in South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, or the Central African Republic

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San Diego based non-profit headed by Jason Russell started in 2004

Seeks to •Have Kony arrested and tried for crimes against humanity

•Stop LRA brutal & inhumane practices of: Murder, rape, attack and destruction of towns & villages

Abducting and abusing children Forcing children to become LRA soldiers

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Create social & political awareness•Produce & present films & videos to high schools and colleges throughout the US

Produced April 2007 “Displace Me” event•67,000 US activists slept in the streets in “cardboard villages” to raise awareness of Ugandan refugees fleeing the LRA

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President Obama signs

“Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act”

Commits funds and Special Forces support to find & arrest Kony and pledges to “support the people northern Uganda”

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Invisible Children launches new website and video

Intent was to•Raise awareness of Kony situation •Increase public pressure to capture Kony

•Donate to the cause

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Video & website showed 20 celebrities and 12 politicians as supporters

Viewers asked to select celebs and politicos and send them scripted Tweets to support the cause• Celebs & politicos then Tweeted to their audiences to support the cause and watch the video

Facebook pages also featured many shared links and comments

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Celebrities•George Clooney•Bono•Oprah•Rihanna•Tim Tebow•Angelina Jolie•Jay-Z•Ellen DeGeneres•Bill O’Reilly•Taylor Swift•Bill Gates•& 9 more

Politicians• Bill Clinton• George Bush• Mitt Romney• Condeliza Rice• John Boehner• John Kerry• & 6 more

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Oprah 11.2M Followers•: “Thanks tweeps for sending me info about ending #LRAviolence . I am aware. Have supported with $’s and voice and will not stop.#KONY2012.”

Rihanna: 18.5M Followers •“#KONY2012 Spread the word!!! PLEASE go to Invisiblechildren.com Even if its 10 minutes… Trust me, you NEED to know about this! #1LOVE”

 

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100M views worldwide in 6 days!!!!

Became the fastest growing on-line video of all time!

Viral spread primarily due to 18-29 year olds sharing links on Twitter and Facebook

(Pew Research - http://mashable.com/2012/03/16/kony-2012-pew-study/)

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•Invisible Children over-simplified and misrepresented the situation

•Less than 1/3 of donations actually going to aid Uganda people

•Many other human tragedies occurring throughout the world that need help & support Who needs help the most? Where can help do the most good?

•Awareness raising by itself is useless to effect change

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Ran around San Diego naked & incoherent

Destroyed campaign’s credibility and shifted its focus….

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April 20 “Cover the Night” event was poorly supported in US and worldwide•Supporters were asked to

“Cover The Night” with banners, posters, fliers, chalk art, and other visual materials

Stage rallies

“Kony Part II – Beyond Famous” video had fraction of “Kony 2012” views•2M vs 100M+

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Viral campaign created broad awareness•Made Kony a bad-guy celebrity

But….

Failed to activate audience beyond spreading the message

Awareness did not lead to action

Too many steps from “raise awareness…” to “find & arrest Kony”

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Over 12M Twitter mentions on 9 tags in March, less the 500,000 in April

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“Slacker” + “Activism” = “Slacktivism”

Film said to inherently promote “Slacktivism” – creation of feel good measures for a social cause, such as sharing digital content, but not taking any real action to implement change

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