Social Activism 2.0

Social activism, today, has been redefined by the new tools of social media. While surfing the web, looking for ideas for my new blog-post, I came across an article a friend of mine had posted on her facebook wall. It was about a gay couple -  Jonathan Williams and James Bull  who were asked to leave from a pub in London for kissing in public. Williams then put up a post on twitter and it was soon retweeted over and over again by several supporters. 

"Seven years in London & I've never been made to feel bad for being gay. 45 min ago the John Snow pub, W1F had me removed for kissing a date."

Soon, it had garnered enough public support to schedule two kiss-ins at the John Snow pub. Around 300 people attended the kiss-in event which was much publicised on facebook where mass co-ordinated kissing took place. People from all over London came to support a worthy cause. And this entire event was borne out of and created by using digital media. It's amazing to see how social media gives an active voice to people and help gain critical mass. It facilitates sustained collaboration around a shared idea, over a period of time, crossing borders. Social media networks cross technologies and have immediate impact that gives it urgency, makes it personal and allows for individual attention in a mass intervention. 

This is a perfect example of activism going 2.0. What started as a simple tweet became a massive social event forcing a pub to close it’s doors and lose out on an evening’s worth of sales. Where activists were once defined by their causes, they are now defined by their tools. Facebook and twitter warriors go online to push for change. 

These social media tools have always been used for relationship building, which is an intrinsic part of public relations. Most people have strong ties with a small group of friends, colleagues and family within their social networks. And these networks are a great tool for spreading the right message. Social media allows individuals to share experiences and social activism in a quick, and almost effortless way between their online social circle. As John Cass has rightly stated, "strong relationships can exist because of social media, and existing relationships can be stronger because of social media. And it is possible to activate and motivate a small community using social media."

I understand that social networks cannot solve all the problems in the world, nor can they be the only means to spread awareness but they definitely allows NGOs, activists and governments programs to harness our enthusiasm. They enable people from all over the world, come together, to support a cause they believe in. There have always been traditional forms of protest and social activism but digital media and social networks have definitely empowered more people to be a part of what they really believe in.

Sources: 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/15/john-snow-kiss-in-london?CMP=twt_gu

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2011/apr/15/kiss-in-protest-john-snow

http://sosogay.org/2011/gay-couple-kicked-out-of-soho-pub-for-kissing/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/soho-pub-shuts-its-doors-hours-before-gay-kissing-protest-2268623.html

http://pr.typepad.com/pr_communications/2010/09/social-media-reinvents-social-activism-for-strong-relationships-my-critique-of-malcolm-gladwells-new.html

Flash-mobs - Appealing to the masses

Imagine walking down the street, going about your daily business or getting off an airplane after  a 15 hour non-stop journey and suddenly the person standing next to you starts singing or dancing and other people join in. The next thing you know, you’re absorbed in the sheer magic of that moment. You are that moment.

Let’s make it a little boring now. Let’s talk business. To make a customer or a potential customer feel that way is any PR/marketing practitioner’s dream. And we see it happening. The current T-Mobile advert (designed and executed by Saatchi & Saatchi) running across all major TV stations has made a lot of organisations sit up and take notice of the incredible impact of this social media phenomenon- flashmobs. 

I first came across flash-mobs while looking for a Michael Jackson tribute video. And the fact that this could be used as a marketing strategy definitely crossed my mind. So what exactly is a flashmob. According to the  Oxford Dictionary, which has included this term recently, a flash-mob is “a public gathering of complete strangers, organised via the Internet or mobile phones that perform a pointless act and then disperse again.” A lot  of advertising agencies are using this phenomenon to create and garner interest in existing products/services. A flash mob incorporates almost all forms of social media. It's shared on facebook, available on youtube, made popular by tweets. Hence, it's become an intrinsic part of digital advertising and public relations. Another great video I came across while doing my research was the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport (Beirut Duty Free)  Dabke / Hip-Hop flash mob.

How effective do we think these flashmobs and why have they become so popular.  I believe it’s a simple psychological effect on the psyche. It’s basically  appealing to the emotions on people. Advocates of emotional appeals argue that effective communication connects at a visceral level. An emotional appeal is related to an individual’s psychological and social needs for purchasing certain products and services. Many consumers are emotionally motivated or driven to make certain purchases. Advertisers aim to cash in on the emotional appeal and this works particularly well where there is not much difference between multiple product brands and its offerings. 

The flash mob effect can take us somewhere almost magical — a place in which out of the random movement of individuals in a crowd, something beautiful and co-ordinated and ordered emerges; a place where we can share something with total strangers, without cost or harm to ourselves or to anyone else for a few short minutes before the song is over and the performers disperse. And even though some of these flash mobs are advertisers’ tools designed to encourage us to buy some product or other, you can see from the expressions on the faces of the performers and the crowd that that’s not what they are experiencing; they’re feeling delight and pleasure and a sense of being a part of something. And I think there’s a gift for us all in that.

Being able to make a consumer feel that magic is the ultimate goal of an advertising/ PR practitioner.


Sources: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/oct/27/t-mobile-flashmob-ad

http://www.articleswave.com/advertising-articles/types-of-advertising-appeals.html