For Young Adults, Activism Can Be Hitting ‘Like’ on Facebook, but Brands Can Use This to Their Advantage
By Ann Marie Kerwin
The following views were written about the article found here: http://adage.com/print?article_id=144686
#1 by dolly - July 2nd, 2010 at 17:32
Great article!
I have seen social media not only make different causes known but it connects people who support similar causes that otherwise would not have known each other. Of course there are limitations to getting involved when you are only sitting in front of a computer. But that is a wonderful beginning for getting informed about your cause and it’s sometime corporate supporters. For those who want to step out and get their hands dirty they now have an online resource from which to learn from.
The drawback is that there are almost too many causes out there. How do you choose just one (or more) to invest in? Of course you will want to choose one that you are most passionate about and has the resources to succeed.
That is where corporations can come in. Through corporate backing with donations and marketing campaigns, a charitable mission can more likely be trusted. Consumers may be more willing to donate their money and time to that cause if they see it is linked to a reputable brand, granted that the brand is still untarnished. That is of course where research comes in.
For example Procter & Gamble are currently one of the leaders in the Gulf oil spill clean up effort through their donation of Dawn dish soap that is used to clean the wildlife. Even before the Gulf oil spill in March 2010 I remember seeing bottles of Dawn in the grocery store with images of penguins on the packaging recalling the clean up of the Exxon spill 20 years ago. However this is the same company that is under fire for their animal-testing practices.
Supporting a charitable cause, even if it’s just through clicking “Like” in Facebook or buying a bottle of dish soap is a great start, but the research on who is really being supported is essential. Luckily the internet is good for that too.
#2 by stephanie - July 8th, 2010 at 13:29
Young adults and activism
Very interesting but very obvious. Young adults communicate in completely different ways than the older generations did. Today they use Facebook, Twitter, oovoo, Skype, texting, Youtube just to name a few. This generation is the get information immediately generation. No longer do they have to take a day out to research something. Information is at the tips of your fingers. So much so that we and they have become cynical about where the info comes from. So much bogus info is out there that is make us skeptics.
Many causes took to social networking and learned from Obama’s campaign. He was very successful in spreading the news through social networking. Today there are over 200,000 causes on facebook alone. But what does facebook really do for the causes? Fewer than 1% of those who joined the cause have actually donated money through the application. Reasearch has shown that nonprofit fundraising is least successful through the interweb according to a report by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. Non-profits require much more actual relationship-building than just pushing a like button.
So how does social networking work for causes? Number one thing is it contacts a huge amount of people daily. And if done correctly, it can raise large amounts of money for a cause. A good example of this was the Haiti earthquakes and Red Cross setting up a text-donation number. I believe it raised over $30 million in a very short amount of time.
We may be bombarded with cause after cause in today’s world and not actually making very much money doing this but with every push of the like button, we are spreading the word to make people more educated and informed..