Slacktivism

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Introduction Social media has grown increasingly more popular since 1997 when the first social media platform, “Six Degrees,” was released (Ngak, 2014). Social media allows people a way to communicate with those who are around them and even across the globe in both negative and positive ways. However, there is not much research regarding the impact that social media has on those who engage with others online. More specifically, there is little research regarding the impact that social media has on peoples’ political activism engagement. This literature review aims to explore and answer the question, “does social media effect how people engage in politics?”
Social Media and Youth Scholars have found that online interactions complement face-to-face
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However, it has also given rise to the emergence of “slacktivism,” which is an online form of self-aggrandizing, politically ineffective activism (Cabrera, Matias, & Montoya, 2017). Christensen (2011) defined slacktivism as “political activities that have no impact on real-life political outcomes, but only serve to increase the feel-good factor of the participants.” As social media is increasingly utilized by contemporary, grassroots organizers, including college students, the question of whether social media does anything to produce tangible social change has become more complicated, according to Obar (2014). According to Mwangi, Bettencourt, and Malaney (2016), student activism and engagement in social justice have long been a tradition at colleges and universities, but the emergence of new technologies is shifting the landscape of student engagement (p. 2). For example, instead of relying on petitions, rallies, and letters, a study found that 19% of Internet users engaged in activism by posting material about pursuing political engagement or social issues (Barnhardt, …show more content…
These tools make knowledge readily available to those who wish to access it. Research on contributions via social media indicate that many times, employees are not motivated to engage in the exchange of knowledge (Kimmerle, Wodzicki, & Cress, 2008). Instead, most users choose to participate passively by reading the posts of others instead of actively engaging by contributing content (Matschke, Moskaliuk, Bokhorst, Schummer, & Cress,