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Anna Zawilska

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What can we learn about social media and society in general from the hype generated by Kony 2012?

Although I have known about Invisible Children for quite some time, I was surprised to see the sudden boom in attention pointed towards the group due to Kony 2012. I want to explore - what causes a social media boom like this? What is it about the movement that makes people react so emotionally (in both positive and negative ways)? How can we use this time of energy in constructive ways in the future?

Topics: Invisible Children Kony 2012 collaborative thought social media society
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  • Anna Zawilska

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    Mar 13 2012: I wonder if general awareness of the world and important issues has increased due to the internet. For example, has the amount of money given to charity and volunteer work increased proportionally with increase in information access? I suspect that probably not. So what makes people want to get in on the action in this issue? Is it something very quick and easy that makes people think that are making a difference where they actually are not?

    How can we excite people to the point that they want to make a persistant contribution to good causes? Does it take a well-made emotional movie everyday?

    • Adrien Mveng

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      Mar 20 2012: You would be wrong if you suspected that ggeneral awareness has not increased. One may think people do not invest a lot in the world issues. but trust me, if you tell to 1000 people they can help in the fight against cancer by donating 1 dollar maybe, only one person will give a dollar. But If you tell 10 000, then you'll have at least 10 people who will donate something. some may give even more than 1 dollar. Some may even invest themselves in the fight.

      As for how we can excite people to invest themselves in good causes, there is no answer to that (in my opinion). Most people would gladly give some money to causes, but they wouldn't do anything else. They have a life, yo! they have their own problems. All what you can do is to inform a lot of people so that you can have a few who would join the cause!

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